Tesla Ships Body In White Model Y To Texas For Robot Calibration

You can clearly see the body-in-white Model Y being lifted into Giga Texas.

tesla model y body in white giga texas

Steven Loveday

By: Steven Loveday

Jul 26, 2021 at 10:04am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Tesla built its Shanghai Gigafctory in record time, so many folks assumed that may also be the case with the upcoming facilities in Texas and Germany. Progress has been pretty incredible, despite the fact that much red tape in Berlin, along with some missteps by Tesla, have caused delays in Germany. However, Giga Texas seems to be rolling along rapidly.

An interesting photo from the Texas Tesla factory has been shared around social media. It shows a Tesla Model Y frame up on a platform, surrounded by a few workers. For those unfamiliar, it's difficult to understand what's happening. However, people on Twitter and Reddit seem to have come to a consensus that it's a body in white (BIW) Model Y that may have been shipped in from Fremont, most likely to begin calibrating robots and machinery inside the Austin Gigafactory.

While this is no absolute indication of Tesla's progress, it's one of a series of observations that have led many people to believe the Texas factory may have the capacity to start producing vehicles in the near future. We've also seen Tesla casting Model Y parts at the factory and testing robots, and some areas of the factory are clearly already functional to a degree.

Unlike other automakers, Tesla doesn't spend years and years building factories and waiting until they're 100-percent complete to begin production efforts. Instead, the electric automaker builds in phases. It gets certain areas to the point that they can begin operations (or at least beta testing and pre-production efforts) while other areas are still under construction, or perhaps not even executed yet.

Musk has said the Texas Tesla factory will begin producing Model Y vehicles in low volume prior to the end of 2021. People have asked about the situation with the Cybertruck, but the CEO hasn't revealed much. There are folks who think Musk is sandbagging, while others are certain Tesla will face delays related to both vehicles coming out of Texas and Germany.

Interestingly, according to a recent report on Teslarati, there are now rumors that Tesla will actually begin with the Cybertruck in Texas. Keep in mind, Model Y vehicles are now going to Europe from China, so Tesla's Fremont factory can focus more specifically on domestic Model Y production. Perhaps this means the Texas factory can start with the Cybertruck ahead of the Model Y? However, there's the whole case of the 4680 battery cells being delayed as well, so who knows.

What do you think?

View

Comments

As usual, we just watch and wait when it comes to Tesla. What do you think will happen? Texas of Germany first? Model Y or Cybertruck first? When will production begin? Let's get a conversation started in our comment section below.

In addition, see Joe Tegtmeyer's most recent Giga Texas drone flyover. The BIW Model Y is shown in the video as well: