One of the world's most cutting-edge
factories who are on a super high-tech
mission to build an alternate future
welcome to mind-blowing facts in this
episode we're learning about the
incredible Tesla factory an
extraordinary state-of-the-art electric
car manufacturing facility that's at the
vanguard of a new era of motoring
located in Fremont California this giant
industrial machine came to life in 2010
it's a 5.3 million square foot facility
that's 500,000 square meters.
Its car designs are revolutionary and the
company's mission is to bring electric
cars to the masses. You can even summon these cars to your door with just your phone.
Elon Musk once said they are
building a machine that makes a machine
and of course this is a highly
challenging task for the engineers and
creators that helped bring the giant
factory to life. Under one roof human
workers combined with hundreds of robot
colleagues to turn raw materials into
high-tech vehicles in just a few days.
Man and some of the world's mightiest
machines come together to cast stamp
paint and assemble component parts into
2,000 cars every week before they're put
through their paces on the test track.
Mass production has come so far since
the world's first large-scale industrial
factory the earliest of which was the
Venetian Arsenal constructed in 1104 and
situated in Venice Italy it
completely reimagined the way that ships
were built for the first time each
different component of a ship was
mass-produced in one place the process
reduced build time dramatically.
Years later in 1916 engineer Giacomo Matte
Trucco was asked to design a bespoke
factory in Turin Italy for car company
Fiat what he came up with was truly
remarkable. The lingotto was completed in
1923 and was the largest car factory in
the world at 500 metres long and five
stories high.
For the first time all elements of a building were design
to work in harmony once the cars had
been through each of the floors to add
all the different components they would
come off the production line and onto
the roof.
But not just any roof a purpose-built
rooftop test track.
The Tesla factory has taken the Lingotto factories principals and given them a 21st-century makeover.
The setting is almost unrecognizable
from factories of the past the creators
wanted it to be a beautiful working
environment a place where workers could
be proud of the craftsmanship but to
create a truly modern factory the
manufacturers needed technology to match. At the Tesla factory they are
integrating robots with their workers to
a much greater degree than any previous
factories have done. It's one of the most
automated facilities on the planet.
The engineers solved a tough logistics
problem within the factory when they
created the smart carts. They are robots
that go around the factory running on
magnetic strips. These automated guided
vehicles can spot people or objects in
their way and will wait until the path
is clear before they move on. They put
themselves out of the rotation when
their batteries run low and put
themselves back once they are fully
recharged but these carts are primitive
compared to the factories Kuka robots.
The Kuka robots are trained to do up to
five tasks they rivet weld glue and move
pieces from one part of the line to
another. They are incredibly smart
hundreds of these robots perform complex
and repetitive tasks with amazing
accuracy and without ever getting bored.
But the real heavyweights of the factory
are the FanucM2000ias. This robot is so
strong it's capable of doing four times
the amount of work a conventional robot
does. It can lift an incredible 1.2
tonnes in weight that's the same weight
as a walrus.
It is used on the Tesla  assembly line
but it's big brother the FanucM2000ias
which is also used at the factory can
lift an astounding 2.3 tonnes. The same
weight as a rhino.
And it can lift 24 hours a day seven
days a week. It has six axis allowing it
to move with unbelievable accuracy it's
an incredible feat of robotic
engineering 12 of these heavyweights
work at the Tesla factory they are named
after Marvel characters such as
Wolverine an Iceman. They lift up to
2,000 cars a week without breaking a
sweat.
the Tesla factory is trying to get as
many electric cars on the roads as
possible but manufacturing them quickly
efficiently and economically means
overcoming engineering obstacles.
Traditionally most motor cars have been
produced from steel but the Tesla
factory uses lightweight and durable
aluminum to make their motors. Huge seven
story stamping presses forged sheets of
aluminum into all manner of car body
parts. The press is capable of exerting
eight thousand tons of pressure per
square inch the equivalent of having
eight thousand tons on just your
thumbnail.
These fresh-made panels then go to be painted. Tesla like many other industrial factories uses electrostatic
painting but to an amazing level and
their state-of-the-art paint shop each
car is attached to an electricity source
and grounded positively charged paint is
then sprayed and electrostatically
attracted to the car this prevents huge
wastes of paint and gives a completely
flawless finish.
Everything about the 500,000 square metre Tesla Factory is designed for speed accuracy and
efficiency but it must also turn out a
car that the public will actually want.
At the heart of the design is a powerful
electric motor and it couldn't be more
different from the traditional internal
combustion engine. Compared to a gasoline
engine which has hundreds of moving
parts the Model S and Model X motor only
has one moving piece, the rotor.
Powering it are nearly 7-thousand small
lithium-ion batteries it takes just 30
minutes to charge a Model S or X and
they can drive a range of 250 miles with
the full battery. To produce them Tesla
is doing something incredible creating
another factory the size of which has
never been seen before. Once complete it
will be the largest factory in the world
by footprint and will be powered
entirely by renewable energy. Named the
Giga Factory it will hold the key to
mass-produced electric cars on an
unprecedented level. Tesla is a true
factory of the future it's hard to
believe that these coils of aluminum end
up manipulated and changed into these
cars that are racing around the test
track in just three days. Do you think
that one day soon all the cars on the
roads can be electric? What is next for
the world of motor engineering? Let us
know in the comment section and don't
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