As the end of August approaches, let’s check in again on the construction progress at Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory. Guess what? There’s yet another roof going up, this time on the body-in-white building.
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin — Body-in-White Building Roof. Image by permission of Wolfpack Berlin
The body-in-white building is a large, low building on the western side of the site, adjacent to the paint shop, and just to the north of the general assembly building. Here’s a refresher on what the basic final factory layout will be:
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin Layout © Max Holland / CleanTechnica. Base image courtesy Tobias Lindh.
Around a month ago we saw the first roof going up, on the paint building. Then just two weeks ago the drive unit building began to get its own roof.
The above body-in-white roof photo is shared with us courtesy of Wolfpack Berlin, and you can watch their latest youtube video in full here (subscribe to their channel if you want to support their work):
Meanwhile, progress has continued apace on the drive unit building, which is now being fitted with its outer wall finish (it looks like a finish layer, but if this is just an insulation layer, let me know):
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin — Drive Unit Building Walls. Image by permission of Wolfpack Berlin.
The drive unit building is also in the process of having insulation added to the roof, and we can get a close look at the work being performed in this video by Tobias Lindh (from the 12:37 mark if you want to jump straight to it):
Just to spread the love, here’s one more youtube channel keeping us up to date with the progress at Tesla Gigafactory Berlin:
Overall, work appears to be progressing very well, with the foundations now going in for most of the remaining factory buildings. Given the modular and prefabricated approach of much of the build, I can’t see any reason why most of the structural work (including roofs and walls) couldn’t be mostly complete before the end of this year.
Giga Berlin will come together at an impossible-seeming speed. The prefabricated construction method in Germany is extremely impressive.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2020
Thereafter, given that both Tesla Grohmann Automation and Kuka Robots are based in Germany, I’d guess getting the main equipment installed can also be done at a decent pace. Let’s keep an eye on it.
Perhaps Tesla can get some pilot production testing going very early in 2021. And then an initial trickle of production vehicles in the spring? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Meanwhile, here’s a reminder (from Giga Berlin’s older brother in Shanghai) of what the finished factory will be doing:
We do better than we promise! #gigashanghai #gigafactory pic.twitter.com/6edyOPZXoL
— Tesla Greater China (@teslacn) August 29, 2020
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