Cybertruck Gigacastings Spotted!
This past week has seen exciting reveals for Tesla’s Cybertruck that seem to point to how close we are to seeing the first production models from GigaTexas - the very first giga-casted frame pieces have been spotted.
The stack of what appears to be castings of the front frame of the Cybertruck were seen around the southside of the building on May 14th.
We again have avid drone photographer Joe Tegtmeyer to thank for these shots - as well as a May 10th sighting of what looks like a gigantic stamping machine being delivered to the site.
The big stamping component seen in Joe’s image from the 10th is likely part of the production line that cuts and stamps out the large stainless steel body panels of the Cybertruck. A sign that Tesla is close to completing their manufacturing line maybe - but not related to those frame parts Joe spotted.
Because the truck’s frame parts aren’t stamped - they’re casted in those now-famous 9,000 ton gigapress machines from Italian manufacturer IDRA. Tesla has recently acquired a second of these gigantic presses - the crates for which were spotted being delivered to GigaTexas in late April.
But there have been cases of mistaken identity before - the Tesla community is on the edge of its seat when it comes to news about Cybertruck, and that tends to cause some assumptions to lead pieces like the Model Y casted frames to be misidentified as Cybertruck parts.
This time however, Tesla themselves have given us a way to positively identify these castings from May 14th as the genuine article.
During the company’s 1st quarter 2023 earnings call, Tesla showed off their pilot Cybertruck manufacturing line at their Fremont plant in California. We got to see a particularly clear view of the truck being put together - including a look at the front frame. And when we compare that to those castings on the wooden pallets in Joe Tegtmeyer’s drone footage, we see they match pretty well.
This more than anything clues us in to how close Tesla is to making their first Cybertruck at GigaTexas. Castings hanging out at this location means that the company has at least one of its 9,00 ton gigapresses up and running - or at least up and operating.
Like any other fine instrument, the Gigapresses will need to be calibrated before going into production for real - and that’s likely what these are - practice casts. We know that Tesla’s first gigapress from IDRA was being constructed back in January, and should be ready for calibration by now - unless something has happened to that equipment.
But, certainly Tesla wouldn’t be practically advertising how far along the process they are if they were having trouble with their machinery. They know the drone operators are out there, and having these casting sitting by an open door like that has to have been a choice to subtly let us know that the Cybertruck is still on track to start production in the summer.
But Tesla has been much less subtle with recent appearances of their pickup in public. Prototypes continue to be spotted in the wild, operating on roads from California to Texas - and of course at Tesla’s Groundbreaking event for their Lithium factory in Corpus Christi on May 8th.
CEO Elon Musk reportedly drove the vehicle out onto the stage for the event - which gave a chance to show off what looked like an equipment rack that held a shovel.
That rack certainly could have been for show, but we know from the Investor Day event on March 1st that Tesla now has an in-house design team whose entire job is to think up and create peripherals for the Cybertruck. Seeing a prototype being shown off with a new piece of equipment is one way to show off how far the team has come - but there was still more.
Later that day, a couple of Tesla execs took that truck out for a rip on the unfinished site for fun. Drew Baglino - Senior VP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering at Tesla - had a great time getting the vehicle dirty, but whoever drove it after him got the vehicle stuck in some mud. 4-wheel-drive or not, if you don’t have mud tires on, you’re going to get a vehicle stuck.
But one thing’s for sure - if Tesla thought the truck wasn’t ready for this sort of treatment, if they thought they could be at all embarrassed by an equipment malfunction or something like that - there’s no way they would have allowed these test drives to happen. It’s a mark of confidence.
Don’t get us wrong - those castings are a way more solid indication that production could start within the next month or so, as Tesla has planned - but the extra risks they’re taking with Cybertruck lately make it seem like they are in a good place with their preparations for this summer’s production run.