Tesla takes delivery of battery cell manufacturing equipment at Gigafactory Texas

Tesla has been spotted taking delivery of battery cell manufacturing equipment at Gigafactory Texas.

The automaker appears to be making progress in deploying battery cell production at the new facility.

Ahead of Tesla’s Battery Day last year, Electrek has exclusively revealed Tesla’s secret “Roadrunner” project, which consists of its in-house designed battery cell manufacturing system to increase production volume and reduce cost.

Tesla built a “Tera battery manufacturing facility” in its facilities on Kato Road next to its factory in Fremont to house pilot production lines for the project.

But at the time, we first reported about Tesla’s plan to deploy a full-scale version of the new 4680 battery cell production at Gigafactory Texas in Austin.

A few months later, Tesla officially applied for permits to build its battery cell factory within the Gigafactory Texas project.

While Tesla has been releasing updates about its plan to start Model Y production at the site by the end of the year, we. haven’t heard much about progress toward establishing battery cell production at the site.

Now we get to see some progress toward that goal as Jeff Roberts, a drone pilot who often flies over Gigafactory Texas, spotted Tesla taking delivery of manufacturing equipment called “Anode line 1”:

The equipment appears to be meant for Tesla’s anode production line for battery cell production at the factory.

At Battery Day, Tesla said that it designed a new silicon that is going to be much cheaper than current solutions for the anode of the 4680 cell.

Tesla believes that the improvement to the anode will result in a 5% reduction in cost per kWh for the battery.

While Tesla is now deploying battery cell production equipment at Gigafactory Texas, the timing for the start of battery cell production at the plant is still not clear.

The automaker has previously guided a start in 2022 in order to enable a ramp-up of Model Y production and the introduction of new vehicle production at Gigafactory Texas, like Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, and more.