Tesla is installing a solar array at Fremont factory and new 24-stall Supercharger

Tesla is working on some upgrades to its Fremont factory, including installing a new solar array, the first at the factory, and a new 24-stall Supercharger station.

Yesterday, we reported that Tesla is working on 5th assembly line at Fremont factory ahead of Model Y production, according to a new building permit application Tesla made with the city of Fremont.

It turns out that Tesla made other building permit applications in the last few weeks for interesting upgrades to the factory.

One of those is a new solar array on the roof of the factory.

Despite the fact that Tesla is a solar installer, the company has sometimes been slow to install solar power at its own locations.

For example, it took years for Tesla to install a solar array at its Gigafactory 1 in Nevada.

Tesla’s Fremont factory still doesn’t have a roof solar array, but that’s about to change.

According to a new building permit application filed last week, Tesla is planning to install a “roof mount PV system on the Tesla Admin Building.”

Here’s the Tesla Admin Building at the Fremont factory:

The building permit application doesn’t mention the size or capacty of the new rooftop solar array.

This is in addition to a new structure to test its solar roof tiles at the Fremont Factory. Recent building permit applications show that Tesla is still working on that.

Also, another permit application that Tesla filed a few weeks ago shows that Tesla is working on a new Supercharger station at the factory:

“Install 24 super chargers behind South Paint. New asphalt pavement, provide site lighting and power to equipment and structural anchorage and equipment pad details.”

The fact that it is located behind the south paint shop might mean that it won’t be accessible to the public, like the Tesla factory’s main Supercharger station.

Tesla has already installed a Supercharger station inside and outside the factory for internal needs, like charging the vehicles coming out of the assembly line.

These new projects come as Tesla is planning a massive increase in production output at the Fremont factory over the next few years.

If Tesla gets its way, the introduction of the Model Y production at the plant could more than double the current ~300,000 cars annual output by the end of 2020.