Video: First Tesla Motors Gigafactory Drone Flyover Lets You Explore It in Glorious 4k

RV_ · May 21, 2015

The Gigafactory is, as usual foe Musk, on track and on time for production in 2016. This factory will be quite a bit larger than the pilot plant building here. It will be both solar and wind powered.

If you are limited n bandwidth sorry. This is some great high resolution aerial video of the plant under construction.

Excerpt:

"[uPDATE: Thanks to Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk for tweeting earlier this evening to let us know that the site shown in this video is only a tiny proportion of the finished size…]

For nearly a year now, we’ve been closely following the construction of Tesla’s first Gigafactory, a massive 1,000-acre lithium-ion manufacturing and reprocessing facility in Reno, Nevada.

Essential to Tesla Motors’ [NASDAQ:TLSA] CEO Elon Musk’s ultimate plan of weaning the world off fossil fuels and onto clean, renewable energy for our homes and our transportation, the Gigafactory is due to reach completion next year and will ultimately produce upwards of 35 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery packs and 55 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery cells every year. When fully commissioned, it will employ more than 6,500 staff and will be the largest lithium-ion processing facility in the world.

Since groundwork first started back in July last year, long before the site was confirmed by Tesla as the official site for the Gigafactory, locals in Reno Nevada like plug-in advocate Bob Tregilus have kept us up-to-date with the construction thanks to some truly stunning high-resolution photographs. We’ve even seen some impressive aerial photography thanks to locals with their own light aircraft who have flown by the site from the air."

There are some still pics too here: https://transportevolved.com/2015/05/18/video-first-drone-video-lets-you-explore-tesla-motors-gigafactory-in-glorious-4k/

wa_desert_rat · May 21, 2015

You have to give him credit for at least one thing: He didn't cut down a lot of trees when he cleared the land for his gigafactory!!!

WDR

Jack Mayer · May 21, 2015

Yeah, he ain't messing around here.....and note that the plant space shown - although uncompleted - is only 1/4 the size of the "real" plant. It is the pilot plant space. And they are already talking about expansion because of demand. This plant is costing 5 BILLION to build. Before expansion.

wa_desert_rat · May 21, 2015

He certainly puts his money where his mouth is. You have to admire that. Even if he has plenty of money, it's still something you don't see every day. Or hardly ever, actually. Generally, they try to get other people to put their money where their mouths are.

Well, in this case he's also putting Derek's money there. But I don't think Derek minds. Maybe if the scheme falls apart he might... but I don't think it will fall apart.

While, for most people, the idea of solar power has only recently been demonstrated in the Casio watch they got for Christmas, for guys like Jack and I it's been demonstrated pretty well in real life applications.

WDR

RV_ · May 22, 2015

He's radically different beyond just putting his money down. He funded R&D for both Tesla and SpaceX from 2001-2. He put the Tesla Roadster on the road in 2008 and did not IPO until 2010 after succeeding and proving his EVs. He and his cohorts at PayPal owned it until they sold to eBay. He still owns Space X outright.

He doesn't move until he has it figured out. Goes ahead and does it, then refines it, then offers it for sale then refines it even more. Then he might IPO.

Most folks get a concept, claim they can't develop it on their own, so seek money to try to see if their idea has any merit, many times they fail because they exist on one year grants. Actually producing anything is not wanted by the corps with vested agendas of "status quo is all we know" "

Or, as was the case with the big corporate clusters, do a committee feasibility study, and they can't see it working, after spending several million.

Musk and his supporters and detractors are the perfect example of the old saw about the three kinds of people in the world.

Those that make things happen.

Those that watch things happen.

Those that don't know what's happening.

Besides, I took 100% of my investment off the table, and a $5k profit to boot. He's not putting my money where his mouth is. I am playing with house money now.

wa_desert_rat · May 22, 2015

Besides, I took 100% of my investment off the table, and a $5k profit to boot. He's not putting my money where his mouth is. I am playing with house money now.

Can't ask for a better scenario... well you could ask for a better one... just hard to get it.

I think Musk is right. Most of the naysayers seem not to have a good grasp of how this all can work (or are purposely muddying the waters for their own purposes). The thing is, as RVers we all either have seen it work, have it working, or have read about it working. Last trip south at an SKP park with full hookups I turned off the 12v charger/converter and ran on the solar panels and battery bank alone. I wasn't on the inverter though so any a/c would have been on shore power as well as the microwave. And the electric blanket at night (it got down into the 40s at night). All of our mobile devices charge from 12vdc so that was from solar, satellite tv was solar (each TV system - front and rear - have their own PSW inverter).

Sure, the 50A was included in the $21 a night park fee but we had good sun, the batteries stayed well up and I figured an SKP park deserves a little support.

So we know it works. For 95% of the world it's just an idea. And it looks to me like it's an idea whose time has come.

WDR

RV_ · May 22, 2015

Agreed WD,

I have yet to get into solar here but will soon. Perhaps on my new to us Fiver I just put a TPO roof on making it good for at least another ten years. There was no damage as we caught the front and rear ones just as they started. How do we know? We had the old roof completely removed. This fiver was gotten very inexpensively but has aluminum framing and the top is 1" marine plywood not the chipped wood that falls apart from moisture. But there was only evidence of moisture, very little just discoloration of a few inches and no rot.

I will look into the solar system for it later after the new house is in, and my spinal surgery is done. All we are waiting for is for the biblical rains to slow down and dry enough to bring out the heavy equipment and concrete trucks. Once moved in, we take the fiver to either Oklahoma City or Tampa Fl to the Laser Spinal Institute for a neck vertebrae replacement, and fixing the lower four lumbar spine issues with nerves.

Read this article about Musk reality:

http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2015/05/elon-musk-is-trying-to-save-the-world-and-the-early-returns-are-promising/

The naysayers both here and elsewhere use the "They" and state utter nonsense as if it is confirmed fact. Then they point to sponsored opinion and try to pull it off as news fact. The problem with that is that the only folks that fall for that crap are old and frightened of new technology that they don't understand. The younger generations here now can check facts in a heartbeat. Bill Gates and the other folks richer than the Koch's aren't all that worried. The fearful ignorant folks say a lot of things are fact but never show a credible source. When their source proves in-credible, they claim bias and cover their ears and go na na na na na! Everyone knows new stuff is bad and will cost all of us money! OMG!

They have groups that all get together, round up the wagons, and act like they can just make technology and "facts" they don't like go away by not believing in them and trying to mock it! Grade school peer pressure! :rolleyes:

People have a way of outing themselves.

People always will project who they really are and all we have to do is sit back and watch. Just don't give them credibility, and remember who they showed themselves to be. The ones who desperately want to be an expert but know they aren't project that negative self-view onto others. Others believe others are always promoting an agenda, because they are projecting their inner agendas on others all the time. Just let them be, and don't agitate them. Eventually enough people walk away and they find themselves, again, all alone.

I make it a point not to follow the local bullies online and off. There is so much more to learn and do. For example saying Tesla is a stock that will lose their money after five years to the contrary making many millionaires in a couple of years? Rational? Irrational?

Here is a fellow counselor's description of projection: From Psychology Today : https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/traversing-the-inner-terrain/201304/projection-and-identity

Back to reality Gates is on it too with a crew he is funding at MIT looking to produce $500 KW Hour liquid metal batteries:

http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/10/bill-gates-backed-mit-researchers-ready-to-change-the-world-with-renewable-energy-storage-technology/

Bill Gates notes website has lots of great energy projects that go way beyond what Musk is building, but can all be adapted by Musk when the time is right. And vice-versa.

I like his Gates Notes reading list for this summer. Two of them are by favorite authors of mine.

http://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Summer-Books-2015

Here is the Gates Notes energy page: http://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy

Enjoy!