How long does it take to build the world's most popular electric SUV? Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai demonstrated their efficiency in a recent film. At peak manufacturing speed, an average Model Y only takes 45 seconds.
Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai has been operating at full tilt this year and has produced more than 50,000 electric vehicles for three consecutive months. Including Model 3 and Model Y, with 30 days in a month and 24 hours in a day, the average manufacturing time of a car is less than 1 minute.
The latest aerial documentary shows that an average of one Model 3 will be "born" from this factory every 44.3 seconds. From another perspective, you can see that in a 10-minute video, a total of 16 Model Y were born, which is almost one car every 38 seconds.
This rate is enough to surpass Ford, famous for its production line. Their previous record was 53 seconds to produce one F-150 pickup truck.
Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai’s goal this year is to produce more than 500,000 vehicles but according to their current schedule, their production capacity has reach a rate of 650,000 vehicles per year. On the other side of the world, Germany, known for its rigorous craftsmanship, the goal of Tesla’s Berlin plant is more conservative.
At the opening reception of the Berlin factory, the goal set at the time was to complete one Model Y chassis in 45 seconds. Together with the assembly and wiring process, it is estimated that one car per minute was the overall goal.
The main contribution to the speed of Tesla’s production line is the deployment of a large number of automation robots. A total of 445 robots are deployed on one Model Y production line. Those with production line experience know how difficult it is to run so many machines uninterrupted every day.
The Model Y's bold one-piece die-cast body, new structured battery design, and Tesla Vision self-driving system (does not require radar sensors), add to simplifying the manufacturing process.
"The integrated design of the four stamping, welding, coating, and general manufacturing workshops has shortened the distance between each process to the utmost possible extent." Tesla China stated that they have adopted multi-layer design at each process, more effectively using the vertical space of the plant with elevators, conveyor belts, and other automated logistics. This three-dimensional factory design maximizes efficient land use.
▲ The design of a Tesla Gigafactory is not traditional and is based on a cube.
According to the most conservative estimate, the Berlin plant will produce 600,000 electric vehicles in 2022. In addition to the Shanghai factory’s target of 650,000 vehicles. Even more shocking is that the entire factory area is still expanding. Not only are cars constantly popping up, but there are also new buildings which are not included in the Texas factory that had just began construction. These three plants alone are enough to ensure the annual output of 1 million Tesla Model Y vehicles in 2022.
Although the production process of the Model Y takes less than a minute, introducing it to Taiwan seems to take lifetime. At present, Tesla officials still have not disclosed any news but, considering next year's sufficient production capacity, and competition from electric recreational vehicles in various markets, the probability of the Model Y entering Taiwan next year should be very high.
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