After an eight-month delay, Tesla finally opened the new Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg last month. Now you can take a tour inside—virtually anyway.
The marque has just released a video of the the monolithic German plant via a new FPV drone. As the acronym suggests, the FPV drone provides a unique, first-person view of Elon Musk’s $5 billion factory and the EV manufacturing that occurs within.
Piloted by Ferdinand Wolf of Skynamic, the drone starts off outside showcasing hundreds of finished Model Ys, before entering the Gigafactory to demonstrate how the car is made. Throughout the three-minute clip, viewers will witness the massive machinery in action as hoods, doors and other parts come to fruition. The tour concludes with a shot of a long line of completed Model Ys. (To recap, the fully electric, mid-size SUV promises a range of 320 miles and will set you back around $60,000.)
The new Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg spans 1.2 square miles. Twitter/Elon Musk
The first European hub for the firm opened officially on March 22, with the first 30 Model Ys rolling off the line the same day. The Gigafactory, which is expected to employ some 12,000 workers, will eventually churn out 500,000 Model Ys each year. It will also produce millions of batteries annually at a rate that exceeds all other plants in Germany, according to the automaker.
Closer to home, Musk held a “Cyber Rodeo” on Thursday to mark the official start of production at Tesla’s new Giga Texas plant in Austin. The Tesla CEO says this will be the country’s biggest factory by size and will also be the highest-volume US auto plant when fully ramped up.
According to Musk, Giga Texas, which marks Tesla’s fourth assembly plant, will produce at least 500,000 vehicles annually from 2023. The factory will initially focus on the Model Y, before commencing production on the long-awaited Cybertruck next year. A new version of the Roadster sports car and the Tesla Semi is also in the pipeline.
There’s no tour of Giga Texas yet, but you can check out the Cyber Rodeo in full below:
