Our publisher Seth is at the Tesla Gigafactory today for a media-only tour of the plant and a presentation/Q&A with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel. I will relay live updates from him with pictures and videos when possible.
The schedule of the event:
- 12:00-12:30 PM (3:00-3:30 PM ET): Arrival at the Gigafactory and intro
- 12:30-2:30 PM (3:30-5:30 PM ET): Exterior and Interior tours
- 3:00-4:00 PM (6:00-7:00 PM ET): Remarks and Q&A with Elon Musk and JB Straubel
We will try to get a livestream going when it’s possible. It will be embedded here and hosted on our Youtube channel. We tried and failed.
Updates and pictures from the event will be posted here with the most recent on top. Simply refresh to get the latest:
5:15 PM Reno – 8:15 PM ET: The talk is over. We will try to get a video online asap.
4:45 PM Reno – 7:45 PM ET: Elon reiterated that the pencil down for Model 3 design was two weeks ago as reported.
4:26 PM Reno – 7:26 PM ET: Elon commented on financing going forward. Vehicles will contribute to capital needed for expanding the factory, sounds like a capital raise is also in play.
4:07 PM Reno – 7:07 PM ET: Elon sees cost of batteries falling below $100 kWh by 2020.
4:05 PM Reno – 7:05 PM ET: They are now on stage answering. We will try to bring you updates, but if not, a video will be posted shortly after.
3:40 PM Reno – 6:40 PM ET: they are running on Elon Time – so it’s a little late. But it should start soon.
3:19 PM Reno – 6:19 PM ET: Elon and JB are expected to join any minute now:
2:36 PM Reno – 5:36 PM ET: We will take a short break and come back in a few minutes for the press conference with Elon and JB. In the meantime, here are more pictures of the red Tesla Model 3 prototype in front of the factory.
2:27 PM Reno – 5:27 PM ET: The structure for the 5th section of the plant is already going up. Earlier this week, we reported on early construction work on several new sections of the factory.
2:22 PM Reno – 5:22 PM ET: The plant is full of these robots:
2:10 PM Reno – 5:10 PM ET: Here’s a quick picture dump from Seth:
1:55 PM Reno – 4:55 PM ET: The first battery module assembly line is ready. The robots, like the ones in the model (video below), are taking battery cells and placing them autonomously in modules for battery packs.
1:50 PM Reno – 4:50 PM ET: There are parts of the factory with a third story. The first battery cell assembly line is currently up there, but it is still not in operation. Tesla is still saying “later this year”.
1:35 PM Reno – 4:35 PM ET: We are not allowed to take pictures everywhere. We will sort through it and release more. Hopefully before Elon’s press conference.
12:54 PM Reno – 3:54 PM ET: This is a model of what is already going on at the Gigafactory:
12:54 PM Reno – 3:42 PM ET: Tour is starting. Here’s the Model 3 in front of the factory:
12:15 PM Reno – 3:15 PM ET: Entering the parking lot:
12:07 PM Reno – 3:07 PM ET: Seth arrived at the Gigafactory site.
11:40 AM Reno – 2:40 PM ET: Tesla asked us not to livestream the event, but we will still bring you live updates and videos will appear here fairly quickly.
11:25 AM Reno – 2:25 PM ET: Seth is leaving for the Gigafactory. The updates should start coming in within the hour.
Ride to gigafactory….isn't this pic.twitter.com/nJ2HsvccLZ
— Seth Weintraub (@llsethj) July 26, 2016
11:10 AM Reno – 2:10 PM ET: Seth has his setup ready to try to bring you the event live as much as possible:
Rig for streaming 3.5 hours today at gigafactory. Backup power 20Ah. Backup mifi Verizon. Fingers crossed pic.twitter.com/mkUtWklk7U
— Seth Weintraub (@llsethj) July 26, 2016
10:15 AM Reno – 1:15 PM ET: While you wait, you can check out some of Tesla’s progress on the plant with this time lapse from July 2014 to March 2016:
9:30 AM Reno – 12:30 PM ET: The post is live, but live updates are likely to start closer to the arrival at the Gigafactory in just over 2 hours.
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