Tesla Gigafactory 3 has major ongoing expansion and new Supercharger station

Tesla is reportedly just weeks away from starting Model 3 production at Gigafactory 3 and yet, the factory is still growing. A new drone video shows new buildings coming up and a new Supercharger station at the factory.

In recent weeks, we have been reporting on Tesla ramping up its efforts to start production soon at Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, China.

The start of production is going to be a major milestone since it’s going to be the first electric vehicle factory wholly-owned by a foreign automaker in China and Tesla’s second electric vehicle production factory.

After starting construction just in January earlier this year, Tesla has been guiding the start of production in Q4 2019 and recent reports indicate that the company is on schedule.

We reported last week that government officials and Tesla suppliers are saying that the automaker plans to start production on October 14.

The extent of the overall Model 3 production at Gigafactory 3 is still unknown.

Tesla has already produced body-in-white units at the factory, but it is unclear if battery pack and drivetrain production are going to happen at the new factory.

However, a second phase of construction is ongoing.

We have seen Tesla move dirt outside the main factory building and now a new drone video appears to show Tesla installing foundations for new buildings around the plant (video by Jason Yang):

Tesla’s contractors are installing new pillars in preparation for what appears to be a quite large building that will not be directly connected to the main factory:

It’s unclear what Tesla plans to do with this new space, but it could be related to the production of additional subsystems or even early preparation for adding Model Y production to the factory, which is expected late next year.

The new drone video also shows Tesla building a Supercharger station at Gigafactory 3:

The station is located between the main building and the new expansion. It doesn’t appear to ready to be open to the public as roads around the factory are still not completed.

We should have more details about Tesla’s plans for Gigafactory 3 as they get closer to production in the coming weeks.

CEO Elon Musk has been guiding a rapid production ramp-up in phases starting with 3,000 vehicles per week by the end of the year.