Inside views, Entrance Changes & New Permit! 20 January 2023 Giga Texas Construction Update(07:45AM)

Gigafactory Texas on 20 January 2023! This is where Model Y’s are built and soon Cyber Truck production will start!

Cloudy morning makes for nice diffuse lighting and great images and video today! Good thing, as there are so many interesting discoveries, changes, and new developments!

I was able to take advantage of the low lighting to look into several sections of the west General Assembly and the south end of the stamping 2 where we see several large metal forming and stamping machines being assembled!

Timestamps:
Drone flight overview with discussion & illustration: 0:06 to 4:22
Drone flight footage & infographics: 4:28 to 31:46

In the video introduction, we discuss a few new developments, including some significant changes at the west main entrance, including large footings and a trapezoidal graded area in front of the glass doors, crews preparing test concrete sections with different colors of concrete, and visible changes to the 2nd floor mezzanine just inside the glass doors! I also discuss a viewer’s input as to what he thinks the west main entrance may look like when completed.

We also discuss some views inside the 3rd floor of General Assembly, including stacks of 4680 battery packs in pallets and several Model Y bodies, the first time noticing these on the 3rd floor in and amongst a lot of materials, equipment, and other items.

Another new development is the assembly of long HDPE treated water pipes on the north end of the east parking lot. The pipe segments are being fuse welded together to form long pipes that will most likely be installed into a horizontal drilling bore and pulled through, connecting the battery cathode plant complex to the treated water pipes that were installed under the south end Colorado River and to the water treatment plant.

Finally, we discuss a new permit filed on the 17th of January with the City of Austin to complete the installation of the fire water loop, potable and wastewater pipes around the Battery Cathode Plant complex just approved by City of Austin.

Some additional highlights include:

The new Die Shop steel structure is growing large, both to the south and to the west, with another large section of steel erected over the dense pier foundation portion. Bridge crane rails have been extended to this new section and are present on what will be the western outer wall portion of the building. Footing construction, rebar placement and concrete pours are moving quickly too, with all but about 8 or 10 footings left to be completed.

Continued work at the old housing site, with preparations to move several of the large and old oak trees, some closer views of the stone planter/monument in the former entrance to this housing area, and the old house itself.

We see expanding work and trenching to install the blue water pipes near the temporary lined pond. These will eventually connect the water main to the battery cathode plant complex and is related to the permit we discussed in the video introduction.

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.

Sources used in this video:

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Be sure to check out additional Texas Gigafactory footage on these channels:
@Jeff Roberts
@Brad Sloan
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, Mini 2 and Mavic Air 2.

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

[VRDriving]

Watching every update to see if you spot a Cybertruck!

[DessieDoolan]

Thanks Joe.
6:52. Main Entrance, inside. Left. Diagonal beam spanning between columns. Small column on gridline Bb removed.
Level 3. Floor cleared out. Some beams laying on the floor. Works here also to watch.
7:13. Main Entrance, highway berm. Concrete test panels. Selecting the external paint colour was a drawn out process…..
7:29. Main Entrance. Likely column footings for a covered entrance/portico.
10:20. GA, Level 1. Inside. Right, unfinished floor, rebar visible. Unchanged since November.
Level 3. Inside. Constructing a section of floor at a mezzanine or perhaps Level 4 height. Steel stacked at the southend likely coming in here, and the pallets of paint at the southend suggest it will be a lot of steel.
Right, stack of small section lengths of white painted steel.
Some sort of dust cover stretched across the floor opening to level 2.
10:59. GA, loading platform. Floor decking by the looks of it.
10:54. Stamping 2, apron. Blue tarp. Lengths of steel sandwiching a bunch of smaller components.
13:37. River Road. Contractors parking. Security office set up at exit.
15:17. East of Easement parking. The Icominc equipment being shifted. These machines or similar were seen at the north end of BIW at the Cyber Rodeo.
19:50. Cathode. Heavy bearing plates laid over the floor set-down. Heavy delivery expected.
20:31. Cathode, north. Nothing missing from the fenced enclosure except the heavy duty crane seen in the last video. Same crane seems to be that at 24:49.
21:32. Cathode, plant platform. Scaffold stair access.
21:53. DIE shop, roof. Some wonkiness in the purlins. Got a column out of plumb.
Blue marker tape above the water main visible in the trench.
22:02. DIE shop. Large bridge crane isolation. Speculating. Expected loads must be massive and don’t want the forces from shifting those loads transferred to the rest of the structure.
22:22. DIE shop. Excavation. Bored reinforced concrete piles here also, not geopiers.
22:37. DIE Shop, south. Different footing detail. Twin strip footings between column footings.
4 additional footings in the middle of the building as reported elsewhere by Patrick Kenny.
25:07. Old House Site. Tree for removal. If it is going elsewhere on site there would already have been a hole and access ramp excavated for it.
25:42. East parking. New HDD job. Presumably this pipe goes into the easement. Permit from 6 months or more was for a ‘Force Main’ upgrade. Possibly these works. If it gets painted purple that would indicate reclaimed water.

[memrjohnno]

Great footage and narration as always. If they are going to move the tree then it should go to the being developed main entrance. It's possible that it will remain in situ and is being protected. Boca Chica village like. As to the die shop or rather the sturdiness upon which it is being built. I believe that Corpus Christi should soon have a plant to refine battery grade lithium hydroxide. This 'shop' may be to refine it even further into weapons grand or Tesla grade. No doubt they can control the quality coming out of Corpus Christi but what of from other places such as Australia? Refining it again may allow IRA support to some degree and that would result better quality cells.

[budgetaudiophilelife-long]

THANKS JOE AND ALL YOUR PATRONS 🤗 for the update 👍💚💚💚

[acmefixer]

At 25:05 that "monument" can be viewed on Google street view, it's barely readable. The top line says Austin, but the bottom line is obscured by shadows. IIRC it was the name of the business that used to be there, maybe a paving company.

[jameshoffman]

19:50: I can't wait to see whatever they install through that high-bay opening.

[iBradWatson]

The red equipment in the south end of the building looks like a directional boring machine for installing pipe or utility cables

[biovmr]

Just went back and viewed part of the 19 January 2021 video. Things have come a LONG WAY since 2 years ago. I'm just imagining this factory site 2 years FROM NOW. Probably will have some shots of Optimus robots working inside by then. Also expect to see some Tesla vehicles driving around site without humans inside by then.

[josepecanocano]

Joe, thank you very much for the information, a video as always spectacular, greetings from Spain.

[billhaley]

I wonder if that very sturdy crane is to lift the electrical transformers

[davidharris]

@8:50. I wonder if these car bodies are for training purposes, showing various stages of the build process.

[fredanderson]

The trailers with all the air conditioners is going to be the food prep area ( southeast of the Cathode building ) they will remove the smaller tent their using located south east of the temporary power plant. Note the water, waste tanks, dumpsters, refrigeration cubes and loading docks

[rachellynn]

31:07 In the 2nd column, my middle name is misspelled. Should be Rachel Lynn F. Thanks up the GREAT work👍‼️

[dennisfox]

Joe: By the new Battery plant there's parking area for Concrete Mix trucks. I counted 44 total just there! Keep up the great work. Respect....

Texas is more green than I would have expected.

[jclive]

coincidence that the entrances in Texas and Berlin have taken longer than any other portions of the buildings?

[dennisg]

I believe the large crane and counterweights are for the two large switch yard transformers.

[jonathanlanglois]

One of the things that stood out for me as far as the water pipe is concerned is just how deep it is. Burying pipes that deep is something we do in the north to put them below the frost line. Texas has very little frost line to speak of. At best, it might freeze a few inches overnight if there is a cold spell.

[GoCoyote]

9:20. Red equipment looks like a soil test rig.
12:42. I believe the three "slabs" are the covers to the vaults, so I would not expect equipment to be placed on top of them.
23:00. The grade beams between the footings are used because of the large open areas with little diagonal bracing in the steel structure, so one of the grade beams purposes is to act on the footings to move the diagonal bracing below the building.

[patrickdougherty]

My guess on the entrance is that the footings are for a canopy.