Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory Update — Unbelievable Progress Over A Single Month

Published on May 7th, 2019 |
by Dr. Maximilian Holland

May 7th, 2019 by Dr. Maximilian Holland

In the latest aerial flyover video of the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory, the main roof structure is now essentially complete, the walls along the east side of the main structure are also complete, and the rest is rapidly being finished. The progress over the past month has been spectacular, as we can see when comparing images over that time period.

Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory images courtesy of 烏瓦 and Jason Wang (see article text for links)

The above shots (click to zoom), both looking from south to north along the length of the Gigafactory site, come from an April 5th video by 烏瓦 and a 7th May aerial video by Jason Yang. It is stunning to see the speed of construction progress over essentially just a single month, scarcely believable were it not for the evidence of our own senses.

As can be seen in Jason’s full video (below), whilst there remains some construction work to be done on two taller structures at the north and south ends of the factory, the central body of the structure is now basically complete. The main roof is effectively in place (roof workers can be seen in the video, finishing up the last remaining small patches), the main east side wall is up (visible in the above shot), and the west side wall is near to completion.

It’s an amazing transformation from the build state just one month ago, when the structure was still in the early phases and the first few roof panels were just starting to be laid down.

Recall that the goal is to have the factory in a ready state to start pilot production runs sometime in September, with volume production beginning in the 4th quarter:

“It looks like we’ll reach volume production at the end of this year with, let’s say, more than 1,000 cars a week, maybe 2,000 from Shanghai Giga at the end of this year. That’s what it looks like to be the case right now. If it’s not at the end, it will be shortly thereafter.” Elon Musk, Q1 2019 Tesla earnings call

For those of you who want to marvel at what can be achieved over just a month, remind yourself of what the site looked like on 5th April, from the video by烏瓦 …

… and then watch Jason Yang’s latest video, dated 7th May:

About the Author

Dr. Maximilian Holland Max is an anthropologist, social theorist and international political economist, trying to ask questions and encourage critical thinking about social and environmental justice, sustainability and the human condition. He has lived and worked in Europe and Asia, and is currently based in Barcelona.