Gail has a bachelor of art in film/radio/tv and a bachelor of science in nursing
She has worked for years caring for all ages of people with many diagnoses in over 5 hospitals and schools around the texas hill country
Originally from north dakota, she is now based in austin and writes about sustainable energy for the website she created ‘What’s up Tesla’ and 'What's up Twitter' and maintains her nursing practice
I’m planning a little Telsa summer travel trip to the Texas Hill Country. I hope the ideas I share will be helpful to you when you plan your trip. So relax, imagine where you might drive to, grab an ice-cold Southern Sweet Tea, and enjoy!
On the road again in a Tesla [credit: K. Paquette]
Maximum Comfort
I love tinted windows and window sunshades. Tesla Fixed Glass Roof Sunshades work great in the summer to keep the car cool and block bright light when you want to rest or watch a movie during Supercharging.
When Supercharging, it is also great to get out of the car and check out the area, eat, and use the restrooms. Most Supercharging locations in rural Texas and elsewhere are near conveniences such as restaurants and bathrooms. At the Superchargers in Three Rivers, Texas, the Love’s Travel Stop welcomes Tesla owners by placing windshield cleaning buckets and squeegees by the Superchargers and providing clean bathrooms for free.
In some rare cases, you may need to be prepared to kindly ask to use the bathroom or buy something first. In one rural town, for example, I was happy to buy a fresh cookie to get the bathroom key.
Tesla Car Camping
If you plan to car camp in your Tesla, many RV parks offer nice bathrooms, showers, a dog park, a swimming pool, and washers & dryers. Bason RV Resorts in Belton, Texas warmly welcomes Tesla owners, and that wasn’t always the case because most patrons arrive with an RV. Be sure to have a discussion with the RV Resort you want to stay at first, you may be the first Tesla owner to stay there without an RV. A little kindness can go a long way, creating a great experience for you and future travelers.
With advance planning, you can also make a reservation for a spot with an electric hookup at a State Park. (They are often booked a year in advance).
Tesla explains the “Camp mode” setting,
Camp allows you to power electronics through the USB ports and low voltage outlet in addition to maintaining the cabin temperature.
The touchscreen remains on so you can play music, browse the internet, play games in the arcade, or watch shows in Tesla Theater.
You can also control media and climate settings from a paired phone.
Camp is ideal for remaining inside your vehicle, such as camping or staying with a child.
While active, Sentry Mode and the vehicle alarm system are disabled.
You can also control Camp from the mobile app, by swiping up from the gray bar on the Climate screen.
Staying Charged
Tesla provides an automatic navigation route that works very well. Tesla Superchargers are plentiful, and you can travel anywhere in the USA.
“PlugShare” App helps find hotels with destination charging. This app allows people to leave helpful comments, like the condition of the chargers and if they work.
Tesla NEMA 14-50 adapter can allow you to wander far away from the supercharger network without much range anxiety because the adapter turns most RV park spaces into a charger. At about 28 miles of charge an hour, you can sleep and wake up to a full charge.
Catching sunrise on a cross-country trip [credit: K. Paquette]
Tesla’s Official Website Has Important Summer Driving Tips
Climate Control Features, Accessories, and Tires are all critical factors when traveling in your Tesla in hot weather. Be sure to check out Tesla’s Support page titled “Summer Driving Tips.“
I recommend traveling in your Tesla. I think that travel is one of the best investments a person can make in their lifetime. I think it enriches the soul. You cannot take material things with you when you pass away, but it may be possible to take an enriched soul with you. I love this quote from Mark Twain,
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain
Gail Alfar, with special thanks to Jordan Greene, Benjamin Greene, and Kim Paquette for their valuable insight on travel in Teslas. [Edited by Sarah Alfar] Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – This blogpost was created utilizing STARLINK satellite services. All Rights Reserved. June 11, 2022
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Tesla Solar, Powerwalls, and Home Charging [credit: Tesla]
Hello and welcome back to “What’s Up Tesla.” I’m excited that the kids are out of school, and that summer has arrived. Here in Texas, it seems every summer I hear a similar sentiment, “This one is going to be a hot one!” This summer Texas could meet power demands better because Tesla is offering ERCOT an immediate solution.
Some weeks ago, Texans were warned by ERCOT, “With unseasonably hot weather driving record demand across Texas, ERCOT continues to work closely with the power industry to make sure Texans have the power they need. This afternoon, six power generation facilities tripped offline resulting in the loss of approximately 2,900 MW of electricity. At this time, all generation resources available are operating. We’re asking Texans to conserve power when they can by setting their thermostats to 78-degrees or above and avoiding the usage of large appliances (such as dishwashers, washers, and dryers) during peak hours.”
During this hot summer, Tesla is fully prepared to step in with a smart solution to the problem. I learned details about this during a Workshop I attended on May 31. “Tesla Virtual Power Plant Workshop, Related to OBDRR041” was hosted by ERCOT and led by leaders at Tesla Energy.
Tesla Powerwall owners are an important and untapped resource for energy
Tesla battery storage at a home in Texas. Credit: MojoSusan
Tesla Powerall owners are an important but untapped resource for energy. Minor changes to ERCOT’s current practices can ensure a stable grid in Texas. Owners could act as an aggregate source of power, forming a Virtual Power Plant. Tesla built a demonstration test in which 64 Tesla Powerwall battery owners participated in providing energy as an aggregate. The demo showed impressive performance, proving that there were no technical blocks to these owners providing power to the Texas grid.
“Nothing in Texas today lets homes behave like a hive mind and deliver clean MWs 24x 7 to the grid.” – Arushi Sharma Frank, Tesla Policy/Energy
Tesla is requesting for ERCOT to allow all interested Powerwall owners to contribute to the Texas grid as a combined cluster. All that is needed are minor changes to ERCOT’s current practices. Tesla’s slide presentation for their “Virtual Power Plant Workshop, Related to OBDRR041” was well done and informative. I am sharing some of it here:
Problem Statement
Texas needs all available, affordable, dispatchable electric capacity/resources mobilized to address grid reliability challenges
Distributed energy resources are available today, but are unrealized dispatchable assets to ERCOT
Short-Term Solution
Minor changes to an existing, unutilized ERCOT market design concept developed 9 years ago, could immediately unlock grid reliability services from small distributed energy resources that can be dispatched as an "aggregation"
Tesla proved that it can bring grid services value to ERCOT with volunteer customers.Tesla shows that distributed systems can respond in minutes or even seconds (faster than most gas or coal power plants).These aggregated resources (batteries in this case) could also provide primary frequency response. The response is “immediate and automatic” to stabilize the grid.
In Summary
Tesla is offering a proven solution to the fragile Texas grid, currently operated by ERCOT. Tesla proved that their Virtual Power Plant can work extremely well. Their VPP can act fast, respond to load demand, and thus ensure that Texans’ energy needs are met. All that is needed is a small change in ERCOTS’ current practices for this to be a reality.
Tesla Powerwalls keep the lights on for Hannukah for one family. Credit: u/rocher
My thoughts
Tesla’s powerful energy software has precise capabilities to deliver stored energy to power a homeowner’s home and electric car, keep power stored up and also send energy to most local utilities for their use. However, as Arushi Sharma Frank, Tesla Policy/Energy, explained clearly via twitter after the workshop, “Nothing in Texas today lets homes behave like a hive mind and deliver clean MWs 24x 7 to the grid.” She explained that the main thing slowing down Tesla from unleashing this powerful lifesaving technology is “technical acrobatics.”
I listened to some of these “technical acrobatics” during the workshop, and as the minutes wore on, I was invited to comment.
I took the opportunity to explain that as a Texas-Registered Nurse, I am in the business of caring for families, some of whom were deeply affected by the last severe power outage in February 2021. I explained that since Tesla has already demonstrated that they can provide power reliably through volunteer Tesla Powerwall owners, there should be no delay in allowing full participation as soon as possible. As a healthcare provider, I advocate for people in need. Having power is important to people’s health.
If you would like a closer look at Tesla’s excellent 24-Slide Presentation, the link is here. My article featuring Texas homeowners’ experience with Tesla Solar and Powerwalls is here.
Gail Alfar, [Edited by Sarah Alfar] Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – This blogpost was created utilizing STARLINK satellite services. All Rights Reserved. June 4, 2022
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Hello! Welcome back to What’s Up Tesla! As a Tesla owner and supporter, I am constantly learning about the incredible creations of a company I once just associated with nice cars and solar products. Though it was confusing at first, I have come to an understanding of yet another aspect of Tesla. Autobidder is an amazing piece of software created by the Tesla team. I am excited to share Autobidders’ incredible features with you and explain why it is so important.
Tesla Solar Panels and four Powerwalls [credit: Tesla]
Tesla creates software to optimize battery storage systems. The purpose of Tesla’s Autobidder software is to allow the owner of a Tesla Powerwall to sell their excess power to the grid automatically and at the best price. The software automatically bids a competitive price to a buyer. Tesla explains Autobidder,
Autobidder provides independent power producers, utilities, and capital partners the ability to autonomously monetize battery assets. Autobidder is a real-time trading and control platform that provides value-based asset management and portfolio optimization, enabling owners and operators to configure operational strategies that maximize revenue according to their business objectives and risk preferences.
Autobidder is already being successfully deployed in South Australia at the Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR). This market bidding has added competition to drive down energy prices. Tesla Powerwalls and Megapacks are much more valuable assets to their owners if they are managed by the Tesla Autobidder System. Tesla explains it this way,
Batteries are highly flexible assets, but they require smart strategies and software to realize their full value. Autobidder allows owners to realize this value by handling the complex co-optimization required to successfully stack multiple value streams simultaneously, including:
Wholesale markets, including energy, ancillary services and capacity
Transmission & Distribution-level grid services
Renewable firming and shaping
Bilateral contractual arrangements
Other portfolio needs
Telsa Megapacks and Solar [credit: Tesla]
“Autobidder operates at every scale: from aggregations of behind-the-meter residential systems to 100 Mega Watt utility-scale installations” – Tesla
Example of Tesla Autobidder Software in action [credit: Tesla]
“We are designing and manufacturing a complete energy and transportation ecosystem. We both develop the technology behind this ecosystem and focus on the affordability of the products that comprise it. We seek to achieve this through our R&D and software development efforts as well as through our continuous drive to develop advanced manufacturing capabilities.” – Tesla
My thoughts
I expect the electricity grid in my state of Texas to improve rapidly when ERCOT allows residential battery storage to create temporary microgrids to help in emergencies like tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme weather conditions. When Tesla Powerwall customers in Texas and beyond can participate in the free market and sell power, families will stay safer including yours!
If this topic interests you, consider attending a workshop through ERCOT hosted by Tesla, “Tesla Virtual Power Plant Workshop Related to OBDRR041 by Webex Only.” Date/Time: May 31, 10:00 am. If you are unable to attend, the meeting should be available in the archives here.
Welcome back to my blog, I hope you’ll enjoy this week’s post. I am sharing part of Elon Musk‘s words from the All-In Summit on May 16, 2022. The reason I’m focusing on this in today’s post is that I believe Elon explains what Tesla is in an easy-to-understand way. We are all transitioning away from fossil fuels and into a clean energy future involving solar, wind, battery storage, and electric vehicles.
I believe that after reading this you will be inspired to see the future in a more positive way. So find a cool spot, grab an iced beverage, and enjoy!
Tesla Supercharging Network [Credit: Tesla]
When Elon Musk spoke at the All-In Summit on May 16, he detailed how Tesla is 6+ businesses. Below is Elon’s response to the question: Could you just explain to people all these companies inside this super-company just so folks have a sense of what had to be done to get here?
"Okay, I mean this question requires thought and I’ll probably be leaving out quite a few things but if you look and see what does a typical car company do, what they do is they assemble vehicles and they send them to dealers and they manage the supply chain. They might make the engine, they typically will make the engine but most of the parts are made by suppliers and a lot of the actual technology development is done by suppliers, and most of the vehicle software is done by suppliers, so the actual amount of a real work done by car companies - what you think of as GM or Ford - is not actually that much. They don’t do sales, they don’t do service."
Tesla Sales, Service, Supercharging Network
"So in the case of Tesla for example we do our own sales and service. We don’t have dealerships. Tesla also has by far the biggest network of superchargers, the electric equivalent of gas stations. We built the entire global supercharger network, which is still the most advanced and by far the best way to charge your car when traveling long distances or if you live in a city and don’t have the ability to charge your car because of street parking or an apartment. We developed the Supercharger network, and we deployed it I think we have around 15,000 superchargers globally. You can travel anywhere in America right now with the Tesla supercharger network."
Tesla Vertical Integration
"In terms of vertical integration, we make the battery pack, and the power electronics, the drive unit. We are more integrated into the parts, we actually make so much of the car internally, we’re vertically integrated, not necessarily because we think that there is some religious reason to be vertically integrated, but because the pace we needed to move is much faster than the supply chain could move. To the degree that you inherit the legacy supply chain, you inherit the legacy constraints including their speed, cost, and technology."
Tesla Software, Hardware, Artificial Intelligence
"Tesla is as much a software company as it is a hardware company. The software that runs in a Tesla operates the car, operates the screen, does the charging, and all of that stuff is developed by Tesla. And so we have sort of a ‘Tesla OS’ in the car."
“Very importantly, Tesla has built an autopilot AI team from scratch that is the best real-world AI team on earth and if anyone else has got a better one I’d like to see it demonstrated in a car.”
"The full self-driving beta at this point very often can take you with zero interventions across the Bay Area from San Jose to Marin so through complex traffic it’s really quite sophisticated and I invite anyone to join the beta or look at the videos of those who are in the beta. We’ve got like 100,000 people in the beta so it's not tiny. We’ll be expanding the beta to about a million people or on that order by the end of the year."
Tesla Chip Team
"We also built a chip team because there wasn’t the hardware that we could run the friggin AI on. We couldn’t just fill the trunk with a whole bunch of GPUs. That would’ve been very expensive and take massive amounts of power and cooling just to do what Tesla designed full self-driving computer can do."
“We started chip team from scratch and it was the best in the world and still is the best in the world several years later.”
Tesla Dojo Supercomputer
"We’re also designing a dojo supercomputer to be able to process all video that's coming in from billions of miles of data, because, just sort of like the way that its critical to compete with Google because they have so much data and they have all the people doing searches all the time and humanity is training it. The same is true of Tesla. You really need billions of miles and ultimately tens of billions of miles of training data combined with sort of a vast training computer and then optimize inference hardware in the car and state of the art AI in training, and specialized software across-the-board to be able to achieve a full self-driving solution."
Tesla Insurance
"Insurance is quite significant. The car insurance thing is a bigger deal than it may seem. A lot of people are paying 30% to 40% as much as their lease payment for the car in car insurance. The car insurance industry is incredibly inefficient because to put it this way, you’ve got so many middle entities from the insurance agent all the way to the final set of reinsures each taking a cut."
“The car insurance thing is a bigger deal than it may seem.”
"It's all very statistical so that even if you are a very good driver, you could be like 20 years old and a great driver but it's all statistical so you either can’t get insurance or it's extremely expensive. Tesla allows for real-time insurance based on how you actually drive the car. If you drive the car in a safer way you actually have lower insurance. So our insurance is based on how you actually drive not how historically people fit your demographic drive and you close the loop around your insurance rate by simply driving better and looking at your score and lowering your insurance in real-time and people do it. It actually promotes safer driving."
A Brief Summary
Elon Musk highlighted why Tesla is unlike any other company involved in vehicle production. He spoke about the importance of Tesla Sales, Service, and the Global Supercharging Network. Tesla’s vertical integration model, as well as Tesla Software, Tesla Hardware, Chip Team, and Tesla AI are unprecedented. Tesla’s Dojo Supercomputer work will serve to usher in an age of vehicle autonomy. Tesla Insurance is also an integral part of why Tesla is so unique. The insurance allows for younger (and also older) drivers a rate based on how they actually drive. The All-In Summit was a good opportunity for people to hear Elon speak, and to consider being “all-in” for Tesla!
Elon Musk talks at All-In Summit. [Photo credit: Juilian Hosp]
When I bought my Model 3 in 2019, I joined a community of many people who love Tesla. Every time I drive my Tesla around my hometown Austin, Texas, I’m reminded of the extraordinary effort that is put into making Tesla succeed. In January 2022, I started this blog to write positive things about Tesla and Elon Musk. I’m thankful to Johnna Crider for supporting and encouraging me to start this blog.
You can read more about Tesla Insurance here and you can read about how Tesla owners feel about full self-driving here. Thank you!
Gail Alfar, [Edited by Sarah Alfar] Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – All Rights Reserved. May 21, 2022
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Speed and handling were what originally pulled me into ordering a Tesla in 2019. Tesla Autonomy unexpectedly won my heart the day after I took delivery of my Model 3. I am part of a large group of delighted Tesla owners.
Autonomy Makes Traveling Safer
What makes a road trip more fun? Tesla Autopilot definitely does! Freeway driving is also safer when there are eight cameras looking out for your family’s safety. Michael from Boston explains,
“We took a road trip from Boston to Niagara Falls, 9 hours each way, to test out the Tesla Supercharger network and it was a great family experience. Planning our charging stops almost felt like back in the day when you’d plan a road trip with a huge unfolding paper map. We watched Mr. Beast YouTube videos with my kids at a stop or had dinner at the next. In the last hours of a long drive, Autopilot was an extra layer of safety.”
Tesla FSD takes owning a Tesla to the next level
Dylan shares FSDbeta visualization on Twitter, [credit: Dylan]
People with FSD beta in their Teslas often feel like they are living in the future. One owner, Corey who drives his Tesla for Uber, says
“Hop in the car with a nice coffee, click anywhere on the map, and click ‘Navigate.’ This works for me many times now at night. This is close to the future we dream of. I can’t wait till all my friends and family have a Tesla. There is no better product out there. This is what changes the entire equation: Once you drive a Tesla, you’ll literally never want to drive anything else. Doing Uber in the Tesla sells people on the car itself which gets more Teslas in my community which is a net benefit for all!”
Tesla Full-Self Driving
FSD Beta has improved over the past 6 months. Caleb told me that using this autonomous software in his Tesla has been such a unique experience and it makes him excited for the future!
“It puts a smile on my face every time I get in it because it is so thoughtfully designed. It’s so much fun to drive.”
A great example and explanation of Full Self Driving beta are made in this 10-minute video by Whole Mars Catalog here. Whole Mars asks the car to take him to different places in the video, “Director’s Commentary on FSD Beta 10.11.2.”
Another Tesla owner is wild over FSD beta!
Tesla owner, Marc Benton, shared his impressions of his first drive using FSD beta,
It is mind-blowing in the sense that this car is driving itself with just cameras because I think back just three years ago when I first started driving with autopilot when I first started using autopilot my mind was blown, it was truly blown because I could not believe a car was navigating in the lane.
You look where we’ve come now the car is reading the turn signal, it’s making a turn, it’s staying in the lane. Thats how I would turn!
“Wide-angle skyscraper pictures through Tesla glass roofs are the best!” Caleb’s photo in downtown Columbus, Ohio through the Tesla glass roof & Caleb’s white Model 3 is the featured image in this article [credit: Caleb]
My thoughts
Driving my Model 3 has been exceptionally enjoyable because of its ever-improving autonomous features. Tesla is the only company pioneering truly autonomous driving.
Interested in why Tesla is so good for our world? You can view the Tesla 2021 Impact Report here.
5 Takeaways from Tesla’s 2022 Shareholder Meeting This article features highlights of what Elon Musk said about Tesla Gigafactories, AI, Cybertruck, Optimus robot, how we can help support the mission, and more.
Reasons Why Tesla Has the Best Factory Safety in the Industry This article will bring you along with me as we look into how Tesla has become a leader in job site safety in manufacturing. Our focus will be on statements about workplace safety from Elon Musk at the 2022 Shareholder’s meeting and the Tesla 2021 Impact Report.
For this blog post, I’m sharing the enthusiasm of Tesla owners by telling their unique stories, as well as putting a spotlight on some of their favorite features in their Tesla! Hope you’ll relax and enjoy these positive vibes!
Tesla Roadster [credit: Tesla]
Leader in Innovation
Tesla is a leader in American innovation and is one of the greatest American success stories of all time. Model 3 performance owner Don Fransisco originally migrated to the USA when he was 11 years old. He shares, “I am an immigrant from El Salvador and this was the first brand new car that I was able to buy and that I chose to buy. I wanted a Made in America vehicle that could push the limits of automotive technology. This car does just that, I’ve taken it on 7 rallies and it hasn’t disappointed one bit!”
The Tesla Model 3 is the most American-made vehicle, and Tesla employs nearly 100k people. Tesla’s 2021 Impact Report states, “Our employee count has grown ~70 fold over the past decade and, in just over ten years, Tesla has created nearly 100,000 direct jobs. While many companies in the automotive industry have been trimming the number of employees and launching early retirement programs, we plan to grow our employee base for years to come.”
Car Farts Rule
At 12 years old, Zane’s favorite parts of his family’s Tesla Model 3 are the “car fart” sound effects, playing chess in the car’s game center, and the excitement of the daily “speed boosts” on his drives to and from school. Zane’s family has owned their Model 3 for almost three years, and the car still makes them feel happy, excited, and safe. “I absolutely love my 3! It’s fast and fun and makes me feel safe, all the while being better for the environment. I’m in the Full Self Driving beta program so every day the car is learning more and becoming smarter. ” says Jillian, Zane’s mom, who describes the Tesla as a “Work of art that drives like a Rocket.”
Going down from the mountains in Austria, Robert Sendziak gains about 4% of battery charge. The regenerative braking that his 2021 Tesla Long Range Model 3 has is one of his favorite features. Robert and his dog Rasti (who’s a big fan of Tesla Dog Mode) go on a lot of road trips, and the fact that his Tesla is electric and inexpensive to maintain means a lot to him. “I love the performance and how it’s a new kind of gadget with things like sentry mode and remote access to the cameras and remote controls. In a sense, it’s still a car but also so much more.”
Dog Rasti loves Dog Mode in the Tesla [with permission from Robert Sendziak]
No Car Does it Better
Blake Check, who has owned a 2018 Model 3 Performance for about a year, shared, “It’s my dream car because it’s the complete package. It’s green, packed with tech, blisteringly quick, beautiful, and compact, and it keeps getting better the longer I have it. I love the juxtaposition of performance and practicality. No car does it better, in my opinion.”
Blake Check shares his positive experiences on his Youtube.
My thoughts
“What’s Up Tesla” was started to be a 100% positive voice in support of Tesla and the mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy. I am so grateful to you for supporting this blog. I am very thankful for the kindness of many people giving me permission to share their stories and pictures. I plan to share more first-hand accounts from Tesla owners soon.
Elon Musk with Black Original Roadster at Giga Texas’ Cyber Rodeo on April 7, 2022 [credit Josh West]
A few days ago Tesla released a video that featured the Giga Texas Cyber Rodeo and it included these words from Elon Musk,
“When we first started out at Tesla, I thought optimistically there was a 10% chance of succeeding, and here we are today, damn!
“We are really entering a new phase of Tesla’s future, with six giant factories around the world, and scaling to extreme size, as you can see from this building, it’s not small.
“This is the machine that builds the machine, and it’s the latest version of the machine that builds the machine. I’ve said it before, that the factory is the product. You know, prototypes require imagination, and they’re not easy, but relative to production, prototypes are easy. Production is hard.
“And this building is the most advanced car factory that earth has ever seen.
Cyber Rodeo was a wonderful Celebration!
Cyber Rodeo was a celebration of the opening of Giga Texas, the most advanced car factory in the world today. When I walked up the entrance stairs into Giga Texas on April 7, what impressed me was that Tesla made a complex manufacturing process look simple. So, I created this three part article series, in the hopes that it will help in understanding Giga Texas.
Tesla builds one car body every 45 seconds
Model Y body in white will head to the paint shop [credit: Tesla Q1 2022 Update]
At the Cyber Rodeo, Tesla explained,
Giga Texas has the highest capacity line for building the car body that Tesla has ever built.
Robots conduct highly precise and rapid movements in an extremely dense space.
Tesla can build one car body every 45 seconds.
This is twice as many vehicles per week compared to previous lines that took up much more space.
Giga Texas’ Paint Shop is Optimized for Speed & Scalability
Tesla’s paint shop is at the center of a highly integrated manufacturing process.
Tesla has reduced time and space between each step
The paint shop is designed and optimized for speed and scalability
The paint shop is nearly 10% denser, requiring fewer vehicle turns than current lines
Layers of paint that are thinner than a human hair form a colorful skin to protect the Model Y
Walking around the Gigafactory
Tesla allowed visitors to walk along the manufacturing line at Cyber Rodeo on April 7, 2022 [credit: Gail Alfar]
Cyber Rodeo was an opportunity to explore most of the robotic assembly areas. This experience was explained by Chris Anderson of TED Talks, who also interviewed Elon Musk at the gigafactory. Chris said,
This is Elon Musk‘s famous machine that builds machine and his view, the secret to a sustainable future!
Its not just making an electric car its making a system that churns out huge numbers of electric cars with a margin so that they can fund further growth.
You can watch Chris’ full interview of Elon Musk at Giga Texas here [recorded on April 6, 2022].
Tesla Thanks Supporters
Since 2003, Tesla employees have defied the odds by accomplishing what others have deemed impossible. By working from first-principles and ignoring bureaucratic conventions, the Tesla team has come together in an effort to accomplish our global mission of accelerating the transition to sustainable energy. We’ve been supported by thousands of fans and customers along the way. Thank you all for believing in us.
My thoughts
Elon Musk was not exaggerating when he said, “And this building is the most advanced car factory that earth has ever seen.” According to my estimation after I discussed with Joe Tegtmeyer, [he has documented progress since the beginning], Cyber Rodeo likely only included 1/3 of just one of four floors of Giga Texas. I think the gigafactory will exceed production expectations because of its size and ability to adapt fast. I like that the Model Y is such a fun car, as this makes the transition to all-electric vehicles enjoyable. Thanks to Elon Musks’ vision, Tesla cars make people happy and joyous. I love this quote from Elon Musk,
What really gets me excited is when people experience delight with the product. I don’t think there are all that many things where you really experience delight and if you can make the product good enough that it far exceeds peoples expectations, I think that’s amazing.
The Tesla Cyber Rodeo inspired me to create this series. Part #1 shows details on how Giga Texas makes front and rear castings and seats. Part #2 explains how Tesla builds batteries into assemblies to form a structural pack to connect the front to the rear casting. Thank you for reading the final part of my series and for being an amazing supporter of Tesla and Elon Musk!
Welcome to Cyber Rodeo Anthology, Part #2. Why not slow down and fix a nice snack, sit for a while and join me to understand better what goes into making a Tesla!
Part #1 of this series showed details on how Giga Texas makes front and rear castings and seats. Part #2 is about how Tesla builds batteries into assemblies to form a structural pack to connect the front to the rear casting. Only Tesla does this, and they only do it with the Model Y so far.
The rodeo took place on April 7, 2022, at Tesla HQ on 1 Tesla Road, Austin, Texas, and showcased almost all aspects of how Elon Musk is mass-producing electric vehicles. The rodeo was unique and used colors, light, and music. Employees were available to explain different aspects of the manufacturing process.
Tesla Builds 4680 Batteries into the Structural Pack
Tesla builds 4680 batteries [left and center], which then form part of the structural pack, right. [Photo credit @GerberKawasaki]
Batteries are first built, then they are connected together in strings, as shown above, next they move to form the inner strength of the structural pack as seen above on the right. All of this work is done by robots.
Battery and Subframe Marraige
Battery and Subframe Marriage takes one simple step at Gigafactory Texas [Photo Credit @DirtyTesla ]
Tesla uses the structural pack as shown above, as the floor. They simultaneously install the front and rear subframe assemblies with the batteries, seats, and interior trimmings. This saves time, space, and resources, making assembly processes on the rest of the line more efficient and ergonomic.
Meet the 4680 Batteries
Tesla 4680 Batteries [above] have 5x greater energy capacity than other batteries. This makes manufacturing a vehicle easier for Tesla. Tesla vehicles are always getting better, and most of those differences are subtle ones from one car generation to the next. As a Tesla owner, I won’t need to be concerned about which battery type lies underneath my drive. The vehicle’s software has the capacity to come close to matching my vehicle’s function to most newer ones.
Battery assembly explained at Gigafactory Texas [Photo Credit @DirtyTesla ].
At the rodeo, Tesla explained that Battery Assembly goes from raw to ready in this way,
Made at Gigafactory Texas, our new 4680 lowers the cost per kilowatt hour. We have everything we need under one roof to produce and assemble the first high volume structural battery pack using our fully integrated process. The structural pack greatly reduces the number of parts used in both the battery pack and the car, allowing our pack manufacturing line to be less than half the size of previous factories.
TESLA
Safety is #1 for Tesla
Seats attach directly to the structural pack [Photo credit of SEATS ON PACK Sawyer Merritt].
Many things are happening at once to create a Model Y at Giga Texas. The above picture shows the seats attached directly to the structural [battery] pack.
The more I reflect on the Tesla Cyber Rodeo experience, the more I think of the gigafactory in terms of 3D engineering. So, while one part of the Model Y is being built in one part of the gigafactory, many other parts of the same car are being built in other parts of the enormous building. In this way, the parts converge together to create Model Y. No other manufacturing system compares to this.
Thank you for reading this article, it is the 2nd in a multi-part series I am writing titled ‘Cyber Rodeo Anthology.’ I know you are here because you believe in the mission of Tesla. Thank you for your role in helping our world be a better place!
If you want to know more about Tesla, check out their recent feature on Giga Texas about jobs and more here. Tesla Quarter One 2022 Shareholder’s Deck is here.
Gail Alfar [edited by Sarah Alfar], Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – April 23, 2022 – All Rights Reserved
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Welcome back to my blog and to Part #1 of Cyber Rodeo Anthology.
Cyber Rodeo took place on April 7, 2022, at Tesla Gigafactory Texas. The rodeo showcased all aspects of how Tesla is mass-producing electric vehicles in order to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy. Using color, lights, music, and the help of Tesla’s expert employees, different aspects of the gigafactory were presented in a truly unique way.
Cyber Rodeo marked the opening of Giga Texas, and thus it is a very important historical event. For that reason, I am creating a multi-part series of articles and will publish them over the coming weeks.
Tesla provided this map for the event, as you can see, there are a lot of areas to be covered between Entry 1 and Entry 3. The yellow pathway that held the exhibits was probably about 1/3 a mile long.
Map of Cyber Rodeo exhibits [courtesy: Tesla]
Casting Exhibit: Manufacturing is Beautiful
The rodeo gave the gigapresses the royal treatment. They are gigantic and produce what could be Tesla’s most innovative manufacturing feat ever. They create front and rear castings simultaneously for Model Y at the rate of 0.13 seconds per casting or 130 milliseconds. In fact, they created so many castings that they were used throughout the gigafactory for other purposes, as I’ll share later.
Gigafactory Texas Casting photo by @Brandonee916, April 7, 2022
The above exhibit is an example of a Model Y rear casting. What once took over 70 parts laboriously put together, Tesla has condensed into just one part.
Gigafactory Texas Casting photo by G. Alfar, April 7, 2022
The two largest parts of an Austin-made Model Y, the front and rear casting are produced by injecting 700° C molten aluminum into a high-pressure die-cast mold that is clamped shut with 6,100 tons of force. It is filled with liquid metal in just 130 milliseconds, producing a durable shape and giving each car body its strength. This process has left Tesla with 168 fewer parts to assemble and a much more efficient casting process for the car.
During a casting, giant heat release conduits and valves are used to make sure pressure is perfect and heat is released in a precisely measured way. When inspecting the vertices that the aluminum is fed into, employees wear protective space-like suits to ensure safety from the radiant heat of the molten metal used for the castings.
Gigafactory Texas casting machine, photo by G. Alfar at Gigafactory Texas, April 7, 2022
At the rodeo, hundreds of additional castings were available to be used as decorations in the main entrance of the Gigafactory and throughout the building because of the speed and efficiency of this machine and Tesla’s overall manufacturing process. An employee explained that using front and rear castings in this way was a natural choice because there were so many extra ones, they needed a good place to put them!
Tesla Gigafactory main entrance Cyber Rodeo, credit: Elon Musk
Seats Exhibit: Fully Assembled at Gigafactory Texas
At Tesla, the first and second-row seats are fully assembled right at the gigafactory.
Model Y Seats assembly exhibit sign and photo by G. Alfar at Gigafactory Texas, April 7, 2022
The Tesla Model Y seat exhibit was presented in three parts. Part One shows the pretensioner, two side shields, seat buckle, suspension, sandwich, wire harness, happy basset, and ocs. Part Two reveals the Model Y seat back cover, trim, headrest, back frame, lumbar support, seat cushion, and seat frame. Part Three reveals the Tesla “T” in an incredible display of fully assembled seats.
Model Y Seats assembly exhibit photo by G. Alfar at Gigafactory Texas, April 7, 2022
A Symphony of Seats
Model Y Seat exhibit photo by G. Alfar at Gigafactory Texas, April 7, 2022
After Model Y seats are assembled and inspected, they come together as part of the structural battery as seen here. Future parts of Cyber Rodeo Anthology will go into more detail on this miracle of manufacturing.
This article is Part #1 of a multi-part series titled Cyber Rodeo Anthology. Part #2 can be found here.
My thoughts
I chose to start “Cyber Rodeo Anthology” because the opening of Giga Texas marks a major shift in mass vehicle production capabilities. I want to spend time with you to understand how this “Machine that Makes the machine” works, and it will take multiple articles to do so.
I decided to start with my favorite parts of Giga Texas: Seats and Casting.
Front & rear simultaneous casting begins here in Texas with Model Y. This difficult process had to be created to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
I know you join me in having a deep respect for Elon Musk because he is doing phenomenal work to make our world a better place. Hope you enjoyed this first part!
Welcome back to my blog, I hope you’ll enjoy this week’s post. I’m posting most of Elon Musk‘s remarks given on April 7, 2022 at Gigafactory Texas at Cyber Rodeo. The reason I am solely focusing on this is that I believe Elon’s words hold a lot of value. We all want a better future, and I hope reading this will inspire you to look toward a positive future for our world. So relax and enjoy it and get ready for Elon’s Magnum Opus!
Elon Musk at Cyber Rodeo with first production Roadster [photo courtesy Vinny Lingham]
Below is a transcription of Elon Musk’s words at Cyber Rodeo:
Welcome, welcome to Cyber Rodeo. Are you guys having a good time?
We’re going to talk about the past, present, and future. This is the first production car Tesla ever made. It’s where we started. We started off with a very simple car, the Tesla roadster. We manufactured this thing, believe it or not, in an old car dealership in Menlo Park, California.
We made the powertrain, Lotus made the non-powertrain portion, and we did the final assembly and check out, literally in an old car dealership in Menlo Park! And here we are today, damn!
Elon Musk at Gigfactory Texas Cyber Rodeo
When we first started out at Tesla, I thought optimistically there was a 10% chance of succeeding. When people say car companies are dumb, I’m like “I know.” But, thanks to the incredible work of the Tesla team, over many years, we got here.
So we now have, and it shows you where we are today, we’ve got the Model S, we’ve got the Model 3, we have the Model X, we’ve got the Model Y. We’ve got the most expensive joke in the world! But we did bring sexy back!
Elon Musk
So we’ve got cars in major vehicle segments, we’ve got residential and commercial energy products. We’ve got powerwalls, Megapacks, yes, it’s insane! Thanks to the incredible work of the Tesla team, two thirds of the electric vehicles in the United States are made by Tesla and the hard work of the Tesla team. This is Omead (Afshar). Omead has managed the construction of the Gigafactory here, thanks Omead!
Elon Musk anounces that Full Self Driving beta may be released to all FSD customers by end of 2022
And we have full self-driving in Beta. Does anyone here use the full self-driving beta? Great. You can really get a feeling for how much full self-driving is going to transform society. The car will be able to take you anywhere you want. Its ultimately ten times safer than if you were driving it yourself. It’s going to completely revolutionize the world. This is one of those things that comes along very rarely. The Tesla autopilot team and AI [Artificial Intelligence] team have done an incredible job solving real-world AI. We are aiming to go to wide beta for all FSD customers in North America this year. [applause] To the moon!
Giga Texas ushers in the new phase of Tesla’s future
This is now our sixth major factory. We are now on three continents. It’s great to have two major vehicle plants in North America. So, an Austin factory, and China, and one in Europe that I was just at recently. This is going to be a huge improvement for Tesla. It’s also going to be better for your environment. You want to make the cars for where the customers are, and not put them onto ships and over the oceans. It’s going to be way better to make cars locally. We are really entering a new phase of Tesla’s future, with six giant factories around the world, and scaling to extreme size, as you can see from this building, it’s not small. And this is also Tesla’s global headquarters.
Why Austin? Actually, I asked the Tesla team. California’s great, we’re continuing to expand in California, but we ran out of room and so we need a place where we can be really big. And there’s no place like Texas!
Elon Musk thanks Austin, Travis County, and all the builders
Here we are, we are 10 minutes from the airport, 15 minutes from downtown, a central logistics hub, and we’ve got access to awesome talent. Thank you Austin, thank you Travis County!
It wasn’t easy building this humongous building and getting all of this equipment here. I just cannot express enough appreciation and gratitude for the Tesla team that built Giga Texas. let’s give them a hand! We went through the deep freeze, rain, quicksand, and incredibly fast build, it was very difficult, but it’s done.
I just cannot express enough appreciation and gratitude for the Tesla team that built Giga Texas. let’s give them a hand!
Elon Musk
Giga Texas is the machine that builds the machine
I want to give you a sense of the size of this thing. It’s not small. What we have here is, if you put the building on its side, it’s taller than the Burj Khalifa, that’s to scale. It’s equivalent to three pentagons. When a building is measured in units of pentagon, you know it’s quite large! This is the largest factory building in the world by volume. How many hamsters fit in it? [yells someone in the audience] I’m glad you asked that, according to our calculations, 194 billion hamsters could fit in this building!
This is the machine that builds the machine, and it’s the latest version of the machine that builds the machine. I’ve said it before, that the factory is the product. You know, prototypes require imagination, and they’re not easy, but relative to production, prototypes are easy. Production is hard. And this building is the most advanced car factory that earth has ever seen. Alien Technology. You know a factory is advanced if it feels like an alien dreadnought landed!
The team is doing great work in Fremont, California, but we took a lot of lessons and learned from that. The buildings were all separate, there was a lot of movement between the buildings, Think of us like a chip, an integrated circuit. You combine everything in one package, and now this is what you get.
This is a case of raw materials coming in one side, they get formed into a cell, they get formed into a pack, then we cast the front and rear body. The pack itself is structural, and the outcome is a finished product. So it’s raw materials in one side, and cars out the other side.
We’re building our own battery cells, we think the most advanced cell in the world, here at Giga Texas. All the footage you see here is from this factory and we think, over time, this will be the biggest cell factory in the world.
Revolutionary manufacturing: Making a car out of three major parts
Largest casting machine ever made [photo by Gail Alfar at Gigafactory Texas]
Another major innovation is the structural pack. So we are basically bringing into fruition the things that we said we would do. We said we would basically make the car out of three major pieces. A real body casting and a structural pack with the cells themselves carrying the load.
Just like in airplanes where the wing is a fuel tank in wing shape, with the new Model Y architecture, the cells themselves carry the load. And that results in a car that is lighter, has a smaller number of parts, costs less, and improves the crash performance.
Its a safety advantage too. As I was saying, its revolutionary for car manufacturing to basically make your car out of three major parts. A cast rear, a structural pack, and a cast front.
What you are looking at is the biggest casting machine ever made [see above photo]. And it’s kind of a crazy thing to make a car this way, it’s never been done before. When we were trying to figure this out, there were six major casting manufacturers in the world. When we called all six, five said no, and one said maybe. I was like, that sounds like a “yes!” It was a lot of effort and great ideas from the team. We’ve made the world‘s biggest casting machine work very efficiently to create and radically simplify the creation of the car. Raw materials in, a bunch of stuff happens, and then car out. [audience screams, 'if you don’t make stuff there is no stuff'] Yes exactly, if you don’t make stuff there isn’t any stuff.
We are aiming, just with the Model Y program alone, to get to ½ million units a year and then we’re going to start manufacturing Cybertruck here next year. The Model Y line will be the highest capacity line, I think, of any line in the world. In fact, I’m confident it will be. Half a million units per year in a single factory of one product is the biggest thing in the world. Definitely, this will be the highest volume car factory in America.
Cybertruck always looks like CGI in real life, but that is not CGI, that is an actual Cybertruck driving around. I can’t wait to have this baby in production, it’s going to be epic!
Tesla has a long road ahead
Elon Musk explaining bar chart showing Tesla has 1% of total vehicle output in the world [cr: Tesla]
Tesla is growing at the fastest pace of any large manufacturing object in history. In twelve months, we’ve delivered over a million cars worldwide.
Now that said, there’s still a long way to go because that red bar chart is Tesla and then the blue is global vehicles. So you can see, even though we did one million cars in the last twelve months, we’re still maybe, a little over 1% of total vehicle output in the world. We want to try to get to, I don’t know, about 20% or as much as we can, to move the needle.
This is why scale matters. In order to make a really big difference to sustainability, we have to make a lot of cars, we have to make a lot of stationery packs, to transition the world to sustainable technology as quickly as possible.
What’s next? Futuristic Robotaxis and an Age of Abundance
What’s next? I’m not going to spill all the beans right now. What I can say, is we’re going to move to just a truly massive scale. Scale that no company has ever achieved in the history of humanity.
That has to happen, in order to transition the world to sustainable energy. Massive scale, full self-driving, there’s going to be a designated Robotaxi that’s going to look quite futuristic.
And, of course, we’ve got the Tesla robot, Optimus and this is, I think, Optimus will obviate what an economy really means. Basically, anything that humans don’t want to do, Optimus will do it.
It’s going to be an age of abundance. It may be hard to imagine it, but as you see Optimus develop, and everyone will make sure it’s safe, no terminator stuff or that kind of thing, but it’s really going to transform the world, I think to a degree even greater than the cars. And, I think we have a shot at being in production, for version one of the Optimus, hopefully, next year. And then Cybertruck is coming next year. We will be in production of Cybertruck next year. We will be in production with the Roaster and with Semi. So, that’s all coming. So this year is all about scaling up, and then next year there’s going to be a massive wave of new products.
And now, let us deliver our first Tesla cars made in Texas! [numerous Model Y drive onto the stage]
Elon Musk Calls Cybertruck his and Franz’s Magnum Opus – A Masterpiece, the greatest work of a person’s career
Cybertruck drives onstage, “What have we here, Franz, is there anything you want to say about the Cybertruck?” says Elon.
“Cybertruck is going to be awesome, I mean you see it here, you’ve seen it before, you’ve seen it over there [points] it’s worth the wait, believe me. There is no other truck, everything else pales in comparison. This is the only one you need!” says Franz
“I think this will be our magnum opus, you can see some of the changes we made already, there are no handles. Who needs handles? The car can tell that you’re there, and it just knows that it needs to open. I think we’re going to have an incredible Cybertruck product for you next year. it’s going to blow your mind.
“I can’t wait to build this here and deliver them to you, sorry for the delay. It’s been an intense couple of years but we’re gonna have this for you next year, and it’s going to be great. Its, going to be one kick-ass product after another. Starting next year, and then, some cool stuff that we haven’t even talked about, so let’s see, thanks again for coming.
“I hope you’re having a great time. Here at Tesla, we believe in throwing great parties. So, let’s get this party started! Have a fantastic time tonight, I love you guys!
Royal display of Fireworks by Tesla to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and No. 9, Allegro Con Brio and Ode to Joy [photo by Gail Alfar at Gigafactory Texas]
Cybertruck drives off stage with Elon Musk and Franz von Holzhausen. This is accompanied by a royal display of impressive fireworks. The music choice is loud and important-sounding: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 Allegro Con Brio followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Ode to Joy.
My thoughts
Elon Musk’s celebration was larger than life for a good reason. The impact on our world by Giga Texas and its processes will be epic. The road ahead is very long and difficult. The beautiful inspiration of Cyber Rodeo will remain in our hearts for many years to come! I am thankful I could attend the event in person. It will take weeks to process the deep resonance of the event. That will come with time. I look forward to sharing more soon. Meanwhile, enjoy your beautiful life!
5 Takeaways from Tesla’s 2022 Shareholder Meeting This article features highlights of what Elon Musk said about Tesla Gigafactories, AI, Cybertruck, Optimus robot, how we can help support the mission, and more.
Reasons Why Tesla Has the Best Factory Safety in the Industry This article will bring you along with me as we look into how Tesla has become a leader in job site safety in manufacturing. Our focus will be on statements about workplace safety from Elon Musk at the 2022 Shareholder’s meeting and the Tesla 2021 Impact Report.
Gail Alfar, Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – April 10, 2022 – All Rights Reserved
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