Tesla Gigafactory Texas 21 April 2021 Cyber Truck & Model Y Factory Construction Update (07:45AM)

Gigafactory Texas on 21 April 2021! This is where the Cyber Truck and Model Y will be built!
A windy and cold Giga Texas this morning! I think a cold front blew through which made for some challenges. A lot of interesting details to see around the site and the pace just is unrelenting now! A great thing to see!
In this video we take a moment and look back over the 9-months of work at the site, starting with a deleted sand and gravel mine with hills, valleys and big ponds (not to mention poor soils) to what we see today is simply amazing. Just imagine in 9 more months what this place will look like!

Timestamps:
9-month time progression and discussion: 0:28 to 5:19
Drone flight footage & infographics: 5:25 to 27:00

Some of the major highlights from today:
- In the paint shop structure (west side) we see the ring mount on the slab in the tall area of the building turned out to be the installation point for a very large pipe with rectangular ducting mounted on it ... we saw this pipe delivered 2 days ago and it's already installed! It s unclear at present what this is for, but it is most definitely not a large robot mount!
- The north fact of the paint shop has all but 4 panels installed now and the final roof material installation is essentially complete, with the exception of making holes to mount more HVAC and other ducting.
- The large excavation area just south of the Paint shop has grown again and is now about 150 feet by 75 feet (~45 m X ~23 m) rectangular shape and about 30 feet (~9 m) deep!
- We get closeups of the gas pipe installation and the "valve farm" area near where Harold Green Road was removed. We also see manholes installed along the electrical conduits running near the same area and parallel to the gas pipe on the way to the factory. It appears the gas line installation is almost completed, and the Stabilis LNG tanks had crew working as if to remove them soon.
- The casting machine structure extension area (for the Cyber Truck's larger casting machines) had most of the footings completed and the perimeter grade beam outline is taking shape. Only the area with the temporary LNG tanks are located at have not had GeoPier work completed.
- Also in the casting machine area, a new partial slab is being poured in the east bay, where it appears they are reserving space for future construction of the remaining 3 6,100-ton casting machines. It appears they are doing this because they do not yet have the IDRA steel foundation frame units.
- The Battery Cell area steel structure is now passing the halfway point to filling in the area and is about 4 1/2 squares form meeting the angled perimeter grade beam!
- The west steel structure is getting the first visible interior walls installed as well as roofing, concrete floor pours, more masonry work for stairwells, a new stair installation starting and more steel on the south end.
- The southwest footing area has seen materials, equipment and temporary structures moved so they can complete the footing construction on the extreme south. The south perimeter grade beam is now emerging!
- Two fire water loop lines and hydrants were added on "projections" into the large water detention pond. A possible overflow area is being constructed which will allow water to flow from the detention pond to the pond just to the south.
- Significant land clearing on the south, under the bridge and onto the west side of the highway is clearly visible now, with large water pipes arranged on both sides of the highway.
- Work on the east clearing continues and the outline of what may be the first foundation construction area is taking shape now. The last remaining ponds are almost gone, with only a sliver of one remaining and water removal continues.
Thank you for watching and I hope this has been informative, educational and entertaining for you. If you would like, please consider supporting me via Patreon (link is in the description of this video and in the video itself) so I can continue to make and share these incredible videos.

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Be sure to check out additional Texas Gigafactory footage on these channels:
@Jeff Roberts
@Terafactory Texas
@Texas Terafactory

Video, photos, illustrations and commentary on this video is by me, Joe Tegtmeyer unless otherwise annotated.

Music in this video is obtained from the YouTube free and unrestricted and royalty-free use library. Ending song is Mr. Sunny Face - Wayne Jones

Drones used are DJI Mavic Mini and Mavic Air 2.

Drone flight over Giga Texas is with permission of Tesla and CEO Elon Musk

[ledlloyd]

Hi Joe, I have to say that of all the drone footage that is on youtube of the tesla factory sites, you have the most informative and detailed. Your skills as a pilot and a presenter are the best, well ahead of everyone else. Keep up the good work.

[DessieDoolan]

Thanks Joe for another informative intro.
11:36. Middle of screen. 2 large rectangular orange-ish frames for roof curbs/upstands for large roof penetrations.
15:38. Bridge cranes. Just to the right of the Liebherr logo on the yellow crane. One of Joe’s Patreons notes that the bridge crane rails take a 1 column bay break, before continuing again at a lower level.
Additionally, 3 bays east and another bay west are getting columns set up for more bridge crane rails. 5 bays wide of bridge cranes? Detail might get repeated further east as well, but progress slower over there.
16:58. Bottom of screen. The porta-loos in a few locations now have these scaffold decks built around them.
21:21. Depth of pit can be estimated by comparing to the number of green wall panels. I get around 4 panels, 16’ or 4.8m
22:04. Geo-piering in pit. This doesn’t fit in well with my stormwater retention theory. Don’t these people read the comments!

[acmefixer]

At 6:05 that reminds me of a landing strip. 😵

At 8:48 LOL! I had to play that back several times! Dozer hit a hard spot and it didn't budge! Dirt 1, dozer 0! 😏😁😂

At 11:55 if they put a cap on that vent pipe, you can land your drone on it and watch the activity from a bird's eye view.

At 12:30 that looks like a vent pipe for the cistern underground. Someone thought the circular object on the ground was a turret for machinery.

Joe, your stellar presentation showed how amazing changes took place over just a single month. Thanks!

[stevemunier]

Joe, I believe that I have watched everyone of your videos. Your flying drones skills appear to be about as good as it gets. However your editing and assisting us in making understand what's perhaps going on at the site is outstanding to say the least. My wife and I will be making a trip to the site in June so we really want to shake your hand and thank you for your amazing work!
Steve Munier
Goodyear, AZ

[istiles]

I appreciate all of your previews Joe, but your recap of the progress from July 2020 till now just shows how quickly things are coming together in Austin. Just amazing work going on. Thanx!

[michelangelobuonarroti]

22:00 The diving pool excavation is about done. You can see the stairs in place for the diving platforms.

[cbmusgrave]

Hey Joe - A couple of weeks ago you asked about what the large cylindrical metal piece would be used for and I said in the comments an exhaust for the paint shop - I've wondered what happened to that part and now we know. We get excited over some pretty mundane stuff!

[bobcallahan]

The two trenches along Harold Green road are to finally bury the existing gas line on the north side and the underground phone line on the south edge. The road was excavated down to its grade in strips and layers to lower the existing lines as they progressed with the excavation. In some of Joe’s patreon pictures you can also see gas lines headed north and south at the intersection at the east end of the excavated area. You can also see the gas line at the west end of the excavation. The gas looks to be maybe a 2” pvc line for local distribution, probably low pressure.

[gtbproductions]

Everytime I watch one of these updates, I am blown away at the speed of construction. I started watching you, Randy and Jeff in earnest around late August/September. I remember when they erected that first cube on the paint shop and it sat there for a couple weeks. Thank you for the updates because watching everyday, you don't notice the changes as much. Like a frog in a pot of water, the next thing it's getting hot.

[GoCoyote]

Interesting to see the geo piers that they dug through making the new pit.

[robertn]

You put so much work into these clips! Thank you so much!

[azcojpg]

Incredibly detailed video as always Joe, thanks so much for your enormous effort!!!!

[haroldz]

16:38 watch that stick/board drop off the bundle they are lofting up. That is one reason you need to wear a hard hat!

[douglasgroff]

22:10 My thoughts on the large excavation... I don’t think it’s a stamping machine foundation. The exoskeleton of the Cybertruck is cold rolled 30X stainless steel that is 3mm thick. Most steel car panels are only about 0.70mm (25% as thick). So stamping is out, and Elon has stated as much. About the only thing they can use is a press brake. Hence the straight lines and flat panels.Another reason why I don’t think it’s for stamping machines is the associated noise. The stamping machines are housed in a concrete structure to isolate the noise from the rest of the factory.

A pit that measures 150’ x 75’ x 30’ would be ideal for an underground water cistern. This water could be harvested rainwater from the roof, or more likely a storage tank for the reverse osmosis process water. My guess is that the R.O. water would be used primarily in the paint shop and battery cell area... both happen to be just to the north of this pit. A pit this size could easily house a 2.5 Million Gallon water vault, probably concrete with an epoxy coating.

[sethvondardel]

Great content, thanks! I would never have thought watching a factory be built would be so.. wonderfully relaxing, interesting and fun

[jeffbransky]

At 22:50: If you look at the big pit you can see men scurrying around and see how far down the roof of the GeoPier machine appears to be. I’m now guessing the pit is about 25 feet deep. Maybe 30 feet is a good estimate after all.

[douglasgroff]

16:06 This interior wall is a firewall to subdivide the different steel buildings into manageable fire zones. This way if a fire were to break out, the entire building won’t be a loss and that it allows more time for occupants to escape before the fire spreads to other areas. My guess is wherever you see steel columns spaced about a foot apart, you’ll ultimately see a firewall be installed.

[vernstanley]

At 16:00 you call out "One of the first visible interior walls has been installed". This is a firewall. It will protrude through the roof two or three feet high. Throughout the roof there are noticeable gaps left in the roof sheeting. These are for the firewalls. Throughout the steel framing there are instances where there are two columns with only a few inches separating them. These separations are for the firewalls. In most state building codes firewalls have a "four hour" rating. They are often constructed of 8 inch thick concrete blocks, or steel studs with double layers of gypsum board on both sides.

[trex]

Excellent choice on Texas as the plant location, can you imagine how far behind schedule it would have been having it been in Cali.? We would still be looking at mud pits.

[MarcoNierop]

Cool video Joe!

I liked the beginning showing the progress of the last 9 months, it shows that between end of November and March the construction accelerated!

That pipe @11:53 looks like of an airwasher to take out all the nasty paint solvent stuff before the air is released, similar to what has been spotted in Berlin and Shanghai, only this one is inside the middle of the building, in Shanghai and Berlin these pipes are situated on the outside of the building