It seems there will never be a shortage of Tesla factory drone flyovers and "spy shots" of the US electric automaker's parking lots and staging areas. While these types of reports don't typically offer concrete data or details, they give us a solid idea of how things are going at Tesla's factories, which is helpful since the company doesn't disclose much, and there's no PR department to contact with questions.
According to a recent article published by Teslarati, it seems Tesla is still in the midst of its "deliberate" production ramp at its newest factory: Giga Texas. This is to be expected since the factory just officially opened not long ago. However, questions remain about how quickly Tesla will be able to not only ramp up Model Y production, but also vehicle deliveries as the quarter pushes forward. CEO Elon Musk had this to say about the production ramp via Teslarati.
“Now, with new factories, the initial ramp always looks small, but it grows exponentially. So, I have very high confidence in the teams of both factories. And we expect to ramp those initially slowly, but like I said, growing exponentially with them achieving high volume by the end of this year.”
No matter which drone flyover videos you watch, it's quite clear that the Texas factory is in high gear. In fact, this has been the case for many months, even long before Tesla hosted the official grand opening and delivery party at the factory. Keep in mind that the company plans to produce 1.5 million vehicles in 2022, which would be an epic feat considering it made about 930,000 in 2021 and just shy of 500,000 in 2020.
As Teslarati points out, recent video footage and images of Tesla's vehicle holding lots and staging areas give us some idea of the number of Model Y crossovers coming off the line and being readied for delivery at Giga Texas. It also paints a picture of what Tesla may have in store for staging and delivery logistics going forward.
The Texas factory is massive compared to Tesla's other production facilities, and also highly advanced. It's hyper-focused on only the Model Y for now, though the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck and Semi will be produced in Texas in the future.
Tesla plans to crank out a massive number of vehicles from the Gigafactory in Austin, though we currently have no idea how the ramp itself, as well as the current supply chain situation, will impact output and deliveries as time goes on.
Nonetheless, as shown in the drone flyover above, employee lots are nearly full, and Model Y crossovers are collecting in the staging lots. Teslarati also directs our attention to loading areas for car carriers, of which there appear to be 18 spots at this point. Multiple reports have also claimed that car carriers full of Model Ys have already been leaving the factory, potentially on their way to customers.
How many Model Y crossovers do you think Tesla will produce at Giga Texas in Q2 2022? Leave us your educated guesses in the comment section below.
