@NTXTeslaOwners

Friday, July 29, 2016

Electric Ave
Sparks, NV

We got an invitation to the Gigafactory Grand Opening! We thought the event was well done and reasonably well organized. The tour itself was about an hour long and focused on the cathode-side of the facility (we didn’t get to see the anode side), followed by a view of Tesla Powerwall and Powerpack assembly.

We were based at a pop-up pavilion assembled for the event. It easily held the 1500 people (give-or-take) attending. There were several bars serving beer, wine and two cocktails, as well as snacks being passed as well as offered from two stations. The lines were sometimes long, but they were still serving food when we left at 11pm.

It was good to see Elon & JB Straubel speak. We didn’t learn anything new - you can see Tesla’s official video with Elon & JB here:

We also got to meet other Tesla Owners Club Presidents for an information sharing lunch that will help us work closer together. Our #texasEV shirt ensured other Texans could find us and we met owners from all over the state!

A celebrity Tesla parking at the El Dorado in Reno

The “Big Gay Tesla” - it appears often in LGBTQ parades.

Tesla Owners Club Presidents Scheming at the Claim Jumper in Reno

Waiting to enter the Gigafactory. Half mile away now. Note the Chickasaw Nation license plate on that Signature X.

First ID Check

First glimpse!

Construction underway

Dozens of valets waiting to take our ICE

Valet waiting area

Checked-in and official! The #texasEV shirt helped lots of Texans find us.

Our ID - the lowest level avaialble - there were VIP and Exclusive Access as well

Nice entry to the pavilion

Tours were offered in arrival order. We were under 300 - the highest number we saw was around 1500.

Waiting for our tour - see the line of hundreds of people in the background? They're waiting to get in

The long line waiting to get in - the Houston Tesla Club President is in the background

Our tour leaders. The construction project manager and project designer

John McNeil, Tesla President, welcoming us to the Gigafactory

Our first view of construction staging

Construction beginning on another phase - only 14% of the plant is completed

Lots of work behind the facade to complete

Starting to see the project's scale. It's three levels high - the whte X supports are for earthquake protection

In the factory

Looking at a battery - those of us on the tour knew is was a 16550, not the new cell

The closest we got to a Model 3 was a picture of one

A picture we're sure you've seen

The mixing room - lithium and other materials are mixed into a slurry here - amazing to see how that can happen in an empty room

We were allowed to take pictures and video of "anything" but we didn't see then anode side of the plant. Also lots of the plant was Other parts of the plant were covered in black drapes and guarded by Panasonic employees

Learning about the cathode coating & drying process - the interesting part is that it's a closed loop system - leftover slurry is run through a system that prepares it to be used again - also hot air used to dry the slurry is contained, so there's no pollution leaking from the plant

A Panasonic employee making sure we don't see TOO much of the coating & drying process

The interesting part of this machine is behind the black curtain - the cathode material is drawn into a microns-thick foil using a proprietary technique

Learning about this process

A robot that moves the cathode foil to its next step in the process

Some cathode storage area

Waiting... In general, we were encouraged to ask questions, but answers were few and far between

Cathode aging storage racks - there's a robot system that moves the cathode foil rolls into place

It's a huge room

The robotic system that places and retrieves foil rolls from those racks

View down the racks

Closeup of the earthquake protection system

So far, all cells built in thsi plan are going into Tesla energy storage modules

It's a highy automated process - workers watch the robot moving cells around

One of the modules

I don't remember what was being discussed here, but it didn't have anything to do with what was being built

Inside the 100 kWh system - it's water-cooled - this is the one that we need at the house

Modules waiting for final assembly

Complete product - note they're 50 Hz, so presumably for foreign markets

Tour complete - construction beginning on the other side

Discussing the factory with the construction manager

Rainbow as the thunderstorms roll in

People waiting for Model S & X rides - the only Model 3 we saw was the one in that glassed-in area in the background

Diorama of what the completed Gigafactory will look like - the current area is outlined in black

Crosssection

Waiting for Elon

Bjørn Nyland livestreaming the event

The secret plan

Glimpse of Elon - hard to see through all of the freaking phones