New 'Tent' Assembly Line Is 'Way Better' Than Conventional Factory, Says Tesla CEO (arstechnica.com)

A few days ago, Elon Musk announced a "new general assembly line" made with "minimal resources." As Ars Technica reports, this new tented facility "is seemingly the first phase of an entirely new building, dubbed 'Factory 2.0.'" From the report: The tent is easily visible from the nearby Warm Springs BART station platform. When Ars visited on Monday afternoon, there appeared to be cranes and forklifts moving around the site. We could not easily see inside the long white temporary structure, but there did not appear to be any newly completed vehicles rolling off the lines in the adjacent parking lot. Still, one automotive expert that Ars spoke with said that a new temporary manufacturing facility on the same site as conventional automotive factories was unprecedented in the industry. Dave Sullivan, an analyst with Auto Pacific, told Ars that he wondered what was wrong with Tesla's existing facilities, if Musk decided the company needed more capacity. "It's almost a sign of desperation," he said. "It's a sprint to be profitable in the third quarter." Ars notes that "each tent is 53-feet-high by 150-feet-long -- there seem to be several connected in a long line, mounted with aluminum framing." In a tweet, Musk said: "It's actually way better than the factory building. More comfortable & a great view of the mountains."

Comments

Re:Tents.

[Rei]

Congratulations, you're the thousandth immature male to make that joke :P

Concerning the article, some of this is head-smackingly stupid. E.g.:

Dave Sullivan, an analyst with Auto Pacific, told Ars that he wondered what was wrong with Tesla's existing facilities

*facepalm*

There Is No More Space At Fremont. Something that has been discussed endlessly in the conference calls and at the investor meeting. Tesla applied for a permit long ago to build a new building, but it's still in progress, and meanwhile, they've been filling up Fremont at a rapid clip as they expand Model 3 production alongside the existing S and X lines. They could build a new line in a temporary building, get it up and debugged and running and turning out vehicles, or they could sit around waiting for months (or more) for a new building. Gee, I can't imagine what's the right choice here, hmm...

The current building (still being improved, but with the line in place inside) is permitted for six months, but given that they've been liking it, it may become permanent.