Photo: Tesla
Tesla has reached an impressive new milestone as its Fremont factory, backed by Giga Nevada, has produced its 2 millionth vehicle. The factory in California is the largest automobile plant in North America.
Tesla has come a long way to become successful. Having been on the verge of bankruptcy and extinction many times, the manufacturer not only survived, but became the most striking success story in the automotive industry to date. Overcoming obstacles, one after another, Tesla reached another milestone: produced its 2 millionth car at the Fremont factory.
This significant achievement for a young company was made possible thanks to the tireless work of the Tesla team, which worked to create as many electric vehicles as possible. This success was also made possible by Giga Nevada and its team, who made batteries for vehicles, the most important component of any electric car. Tesla CEO Elon Musk congratulated the factories on their accomplishments and was a little sentimental about how it all started.
To think that Fremont was just a derelict building & Giga Nevada was just rocks & bushes when started!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 19, 2022
California used to have a dozen car factories. NUMMI was last to close. Now, Tesla Fremont is the biggest car factory in North America!
The company originally planned to build an assembly plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a central shipping location. Tesla had also originally announced the construction of a separate greenfield factory to be built in San Jose, California. However, the cost of building new factories was prohibitive, so the manufacturer looked for alternatives. On May 20, 2010, Tesla and Toyota announced a partnership to work on the development of electric vehicles, parts, production systems, and engineering support. This included Tesla's partial purchase of the former NUMMI site, mainly consisting of a $42 million factory building. The Texas manufacturer officially took possession of the site on October 19, 2010, and held its opening ceremony on October 27.
Tesla started production with just 1,000 workers. By 2013, this number had grown to 3,000, and after another three years to 6,000. In 2016, in preparation for production of Model 3, Tesla planned to increase its workforce. By the Fall of 2017, Tesla had hired around 10,000 employees at the Fremont plant. In just the three years that followed, the company doubled the number of employees to 20,000.
In 2011, Tesla switched from 20 hand-assembled “alpha builds” to 50 “beta builds,” production-validation vehicles built entirely at the Tesla Factory. The company had expected to produce around 5,000 Model S sedans in 2012. The first retail delivery of the Model S took place during a special event held at the Tesla factory in the summer of 2012. Production rose from 20 vehicles per week in August 2012 to over 200 by November 5, and then to 400 by the end of December.
On March 20, 2020, the company announced a stunning achievement: the production of its 1 millionth vehicle. Just over 2 years later, Tesla announced a new milestone: the production of its 2 millionth vehicle at its Fremont factory.
Tesla has pulled through heroically, and shined, despite a tremendous yet harrowing journey, with many ups and downs. This struggle is likely exactly what was going to be necessary if a company were to successfully fight for a better future for our planet and our generations ahead. The company's goal is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy, and Tesla continues to stay true to this value, despite all odds.
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. 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.
