Tesla has had its share of challenges this year, but credit CEO Elon Musk for his resourcefulness whenever his company is presented with an obstacle.
Case in point: Tesla is under pressure to meet a goal of manufacturing 5,000 of its Model 3 cars a week. Musk recently pledged to shareholders the company would reach that goal this month. Faced with a shortage of space for a new assembly line, Musk opted for an unorthodox solution: In essence, he built a factory inside a big tent.
Musk tweeted this weekend that a team at Tesla built a new assembly line for the Model 3 in only three weeks using “minimal resources.”
Amazing work by Tesla team. Built entire new general assembly line in 3 weeks w minimal resources. Love u guys so much! Pic of 1st Model 3 dual motor performance coming off the line … pic.twitter.com/Xr55P3fmGd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2018
According to an Ars Technica reporter who examined documents on file with the city of Fremont, the new facility appears to be a series of connected, tent-like structures. Each tent is 53-feet high and 150-feet long, with aluminum framing. Tesla filed a permit for a 5,000-square-foot multi-story building on the Fremont site in January, Ars notes.
Musk has recently taken to Twitter not only to goad his many critics there, but also to engage Tesla’s more ardent supporters. When some asked him for details about the new assembly line, Musk replied that the new facility relied in part on scrap from Tesla warehouses yet maintained that they were “way better” than costlier structures.
Needed another general assembly line to reach 5k/week Model 3 production. A new building was impossible, so we built a giant tent in 2 weeks. Tesla team kfa!! Gah, love them so much ♥️🚘💫
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018
They also poured the concrete & built the whole assembly line using scrap we had in warehouses. And it’s way better than the other GA line that cost hundreds of millions!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018
Not sure we actually need a building. This tent is pretty sweet. Tesla Grohmann line is in place at Giga & spooling up now. They super kicked ass too. Heiliger Strohsack!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018
“Not sure we actually need a building,” Musk said in a tweet. “This tent is pretty sweet.” Be that as it may, Tesla will need to work with Fremont’s policies on maintaining temporary structures and transitioning them to longer-term facilities.