Tesla takes us behind the scenes of world’s most advanced EV factory

Tesla has showcased what makes its factories some of the most advanced EV manufacturing hubs in the world, and the most profitable.

In a series of videos shared on its Twitter page, Tesla gives a behind the scene glimpse of manufacturing at its Berlin Gigafactory.  It’s significant, because Tesla has completely re-thought the way cars are made, enabling it to deliver the biggest margins in the auto world, and paving the way for low cost EVs in the future.

The tweet is titled “Giga Berlin is the machine that builds the machine”:

The five videos run through the casting of the underbody parts of the Tesla Model Y, all the way to the final assembly of the vehicle.

The casting section of the plant has an IDRA 7,300 Tonne Gigacasting machine that is able to produce 13 different underbody parts at the same time. 

Similar larger Gigacasting machines will be used for the production of Cybertruck. IDRA recently delivered a 9,000 Tonne machine to Tesla GigaTexas to do just that.

Another video then showcases the single large-part casting process where a single finished aluminium alloy part for the Tesla Model Y comes out.

From there, the body shop where many of the parts are welded by hundreds of robots and the final body is lifted by one of the largest robotic arms in the world.

The fully automated paint shop shows the advancements Tesla has made in painting its cars as well as its production methods. 

It’s the same paint shop that is producing the very stunning Quick Silver and Cherry Red. These were showcased late last year all around Europe on German-made Tesla Model Ys.

Tesla then showcases the area of final assembly a glimpse of what’s involved to finalise each Model Y that is produced at the Berlin plant.

The Berlin factory opened early last year which was at the same time as Covid restrictions were ramping up at its Shanghai plant which supplies EVs to Australia. 

This factory currently produces the Tesla Model Y in left-hand-drive configuration for German and other European countries. 

It has a production capacity of 250,000 EVs per year. It is currently producing approximately 3,000 EVs per week to reach a production target of around 5,000 EVs per week.

The Driven’s take: As a mechanical engineer, it is great to see some of the advancements in manufacturing technologies that Tesla is making to produce the safest, most efficient and technologically advanced EVs.

With EV production methods improving, it’s only a matter of time before more affordable EVs from brands like Tesla will be hitting our roads, making electric mobility accessible to millions more around the world.