Featured image: Gabeincal
Tesla set up a pilot battery cell line in Fremont, where they secretly designed and tested manufacturing equipment and processes. At the end of June, it became known that this line would be expanded to produce more battery cells. The company's secret project was named ROADRUNNER.
The company needed to increase the space inside the building by rebuilding and refurbishing its internal space. According to Tesla, these changes were necessary in order to accommodate new equipment to produce batteries for the ROADRUNNER project. The undertaking includes adding a third floor above the 47700 Kato Road building.
The building at 1055 Page will also be slightly modified. This building will be used to host additional production and R&D operations supporting ROADRUNNER, including a portion of cathode electrode manufacturing and the final processing step in battery cell manufacturing.
Source: Tesla 47700 Kato Road and 1055 Page Avenue Improvements Project
Battery Day is quickly approaching and takes place on September 22nd. Tesla is expected to showcase its achievements in battery cell development and take a tour of the production line. As such, it is not surprising the company is actively working on construction.
The drone footage shows construction is progressing at a rapid pace. The new building plan on Kato Road calls for the addition of space on the second floor (approximately 21,485 square feet), and to construct an additional, smaller (approximately 8,260 square-foot) third floor above.
Source: Gabeincal
The building at 1055 Page will also be slightly modified. This building will be used to host additional production and R&D operations supporting ROADRUNNER, including a portion of cathode electrode manufacturing and the final process step in battery cell manufacturing.
Source: Gabeincal
Maxwell, the company that Tesla acquired, has long been working on a test production line--a new, relatively inexpensive production line capable of eliminating the bottleneck in battery production. This is exactly what Tesla is aiming to achieve.
Tesla's main goal right now is not necessarily to improve the battery in terms of range (although that may be possible), but to achieve the production of large quantities of the same batteries much more quickly and at less cost. After all, production speed and cost are some of the biggest constraints to the company's growth.
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
