Featured image: Spencer / Twitter
Last week, Tesla has applied for city government approval to build a battery production facility under the file name "Project Roadrunner." Tesla wants to repair and expand Tesla's Kato Road facility in Fremont, California. Reconstruction and expansion will create space for equipment for battery production and a place for research and development.
The key point is the assertion that once this expansion is completed, Tesla will move in the new equipment that supports its expanded battery manufacturing and R&D operations.
Source: Tesla 47700 Kato Road and 1055 Page Avenue Improvements Project
Tesla plans to have approximately 100 employees working on a shift schedule (with two shifts per day), along with an additional approximately 70 employees working a standard workweek schedule (8 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday) in support of Project, at any one time The facility is expected to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A total of 470 employees will be assigned to the Project site.
According to the document, it is anticipated that the Project will generate up to 38 trucks delivering materials to the site and shipping manufactured batteries each day.
Tesla “PROJECT ROADRUNNER” Location Might Turn Into Serious Production Site https://t.co/ewmCee4HWH pic.twitter.com/UnBkItE57c
— Tesmanian.com (@Tesmanian_com) June 23, 2020
According to the plan, the Project proposes to construct an additional floor area of approximately 21,485 square feet on the second floor (covering a portion of the central space that is open to the second-floor roof) and to add an additional, smaller approximately 8,260 square-foot third floor above. These improvements will increase the total floor space of the existing Kato building by approximately 29,745 square feet (to a total of 156,057 square feet), but will not change the footprint of the building or its exterior facades.
Spencer / Twitter, was in Fremont yesterday and visited the building at 47700 Kato Road. According to a message published by him, the construction of the building for the Roadrunner Project is proceeding rapidly. On the site are a huge crane and a lot of workers.
Source: Spencer / Twitter
Hugeeee crane and lots of construction workers at the site @WholeMarsBlog @TeslaPodcast @HyperChangeTV
— Spencer (@sensarpensar) June 30, 2020
According to Tesla's documents, the construction of the Kato building can be completed in 3 months. Thus, the battery line can be improved by September 15, the estimated date of the long-awaited Battery Day.
Everyone is looking forward to Battery Day, which was due to take place in the spring of 2020. Topics that will be discussed may include the most important and interesting developments in the field of battery.
- Breaking the $ 100 / kWh at Gigafactory and increasing volume production to more than 1 TWh
- Reduction in battery production costs
- Removal of the wet electrode from the production process
- Implementation of Maxwell, Hibar, Silion (?)
- Increase in energy density and battery longevity through chemistry improvements
- Jeff Dahn research - 1 million mile battery
- Maxwell Dry Battery Electrode - 16x production capacity increase and 10-20% cost reduction
- Battery recycling for reuse of raw materials
- Deeper level partnerships with suppliers to fulfill battery needs
- A tour of a cell production system.
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.
