GigaMexico Construction Begins
News from local Mexican journalists is that Tesla’s new Gigafactory facility in Nuevo Leon has begun setting up for proper construction.
Reporters from Milenio posted this video on August 10th showing road preparation and heavy machinery operating on the site in Monterrey county.
Cones used to make drivers aware of construction traffic, and heavy machinery being present on the site is a pretty clear sign that Tesla is about to break ground on the actual facility - but that’s not to say work hasn’t already been done there.
The site would have been prepared for more permanent construction efforts before a lot of this machinery was even transported to the site, and rough roads would have been built up to make sure material could easily be brought to and from the area.
And considering that just last month, the Governor of Nuevo León reported that the permits for construction were progressing quickly, there’s a good chance that the Tesla construction team will have begun construction by the time you’re listening to this.
But the usual build permits aren’t the only ones Tesla has requested apparently.
According to a report by Forbes Mexico, Tesla applied for another build permit on July 31st - this time for permission to build an “Industrial Warehouse”.
While the permit argument itself doesn’t name the site specifically, it does detail an industrial warehouse to be built on 260 hectares of land “adjacent to the highway Monterrey-Saltillo, in the municipality of Santa Catarina,” - which is exactly where the GigaMexico site is.
As we’ve seen from Tesla’s preparations to build the factory proper - this area of land requires certain environmental exemptions, although since a warehouse doesn’t have much water use, it’s not likely there will be a long wait for these new permits to go through.
It’s actually a little surprising these permits didn’t go through first - in a typical factory build, warehouse buildings - attached or otherwise - would normally be built first, as the finished building would then be used to store more delicate materials used to make the factory.
It’s likely that the Program Manager who runs the construction site thought that it was best to go for the permits that were the hardest to get first, but either way Tesla was always going to be constructing this warehouse as part of the first phase.
And once those permits come in, construction will begin! We should be seeing some land preparations and likely some digging for the foundations and utilities within the first couple of weeks after breaking ground. From there, steel will go up, concrete will be poured, and the rest will follow the usual patterns we’ve seen at other Gigafactories in the past.
Work starting this soon in 2023 is a good sign as well - Tesla’s most recent estimates are that GigaMexico should be ready to begin vehicle construction in the first quarter of 2025. The buildings themselves should be upright by this time next year for sure - if they can hold to a steady build schedule.
After that the Tesla team will have to take time to set up their production lines, and test them - so 2025 seems like a reasonable goal. The only question mark is how challenging the actual construction will be on the desert site in Nuevo León.