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Anyone know how this compares to other factories? It's a brand new factory by the highest valued car company in the world, so I expect it to be cutting edge. Is

Anyone know how this compares to other factories? It's a brand new factory by the highest valued car company in the world, so I expect it to be cutting edge. Is it far ahead of others, or just catching up? My uneducated opinion is that it's really cool.

noipv4 5y ago
You can see a legendary version of the Mitsubishi Lancer being made in Japan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l6NoxgSTXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l6NoxgSTXM Process is very similar; stamping, welding, painting, wiring, assembling, shipping.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  Nice, I hadn't seen that one before. And as you say, not just any Lancer, but the Evo.
jerlam 5y ago
It seems pretty similar. The only interesting aspects were the perspectives of the drone zooming through the assemblies, and Tesla's use of very complex castings; but I grew up around manufacturing/factories and was also lucky enough to see the NUMMI factory (Toyota/GM, now Tesla) before it closed. And that was over a decade ago, in a factory that was already decades old. Here's a similar video from Honda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCuclAl9AGo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCuclAl9AGo What's missing from the Tesla video is arguably the most important part: the batteries.
- gpt5 5y ago
  The video from Honda is so much better than the one from Tesla if you are actually looking to understand what is happening. It's also crazy how much faster the Honda machinery seems to operate at (it feels as if the video is sped up).
  - Atheros 5y ago
    Parts of it definitely are including the machinery. It's obvious during certain human assembly clips- humans don't move that fast. Any clips that include a swinging tool aren't sped up because the false pendulum motion would be too obvious.
- jah242 5y ago
  Great video but I think what this really highlighted for me is how almost comically complicated ICE engines are to put together.
  - csours 5y ago
    Yes, but that happens in a different factory, similar to how batteries are not made on the same assembly line as a vehicle.
  - SEJeff 5y ago
    And that’s why they break more often compared to an EV.
    - rootusrootus 5y ago
      In theory. Has that actually played out in reality yet? Teslas aren't exactly the pinnacle of reliability, and other EVs are produced in low enough volumes that it may be difficult to draw real comparisons yet. Also, most of the parts of a car that wear out are shared between EV and ICE. Modern ICE drivetrains rarely break and routinely last the lifetime of the car.
      - SEJeff 5y ago
        I mean there are very detailed overviews of Model S taxis with 400k miles on them. There are many many Model 3s with 150-200k miles on them. Anecdotally, teslas seem to last a very long time. Things that break on ICE vehicles commonly EVs don’t have: * fanbelts * flywheels * alternators * starters * spark plugs * transmissions * etc In practice, Teslas break most when other drivers hit them.
        rootusrootus 5y ago
        There are countless examples of ICE cars going hundreds of thousands of miles, too. > In practice, Teslas break most when other drivers hit them. Have you been to a service center? They're packed, especially when compared to Tesla's market penetration. And none of the cars I saw there were wrecked. Just broken. Tesla cars will most likely last about the same length of time as a current ICE vehicle, because what mostly kills vehicles is body rot. I'm even open to the argument that Teslas will have lower average lifespan, to be honest, due to the rate of change in the EV marketplace.
- bko 5y ago
  Do you know how those welding arms know where to weld? Are there some special markers on the metal? Or vision? Or it's precise enough they know the actual location and just go assume it'll be correctly aligned?
  - matt-attack 5y ago
    Robots like that use servo motors to precisely locate their arms. No vision is required. They’re basically going to preprogrammed positions in 3 space. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servomotor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servomotor
    - manquer 5y ago
      I would expect some corrections within some tolerance to be made. These are fine operations and the piece being worked on may not be placed in the correct place to the mm, otherwise there will be constant stops and damaged parts
      - notatoad 5y ago
        servos are very precise, that's why get get used for this sort of operation. they might need to be recalibrated as the parts inside them or attatched to them get physically worn down, but that's the sort of thing that would happen during a maintenance shutdown, not inbetween each workpiece.
        extrapickles 5y ago
        Some of them compensate for wear if the wear rate is known (eg: 1000 welds cause .5mm erosion on the electrodes). You can only do this until the tool geometry becomes unsuitable for that particular operation.
        manquer 5y ago
        Why would you not want basic feedback loop built into a control system so it is not high maintenance? Adding a say simple laser distance measurement sensor to make sure the piece is at the distance it is supposed to be is not difficult, computer vision and AI maybe overkill but a simple sensor ? Also a lot of inspection seems to done by hand, while good inspectors can be smart about finding issues , Why not scan the entire car and see if there are abnormalities over accepted range ? it is like manual QA, I rather have automation suite rather that inconsistency of a manual process. I am sure people are already thinking about it, Musk certainly was making a big push for more automation (and ran into a ton of difficulties )
- bee_rider 5y ago
  Massive anthropomorphism of course, but it they machines look so wonderfully careful and attentive in this video.
- Animats 5y ago
  The classic in this genre is "Master Hands".[1] (1936) The assembly machinery shown starting here[2] is clearly the direct ancestor of what you see today. [1] https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM [2] https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM?t=1299 https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM?t=1299
- cromwellian 5y ago
  Keep in mind Tesla’s factory makes the batteries and motors in the same building, it’s vertically integrated. For Ford I know these are imported from Europe and China.
jeffbee 5y ago
You can see e.g. same kinds of body stamping at https://youtu.be/fgyDo_1d390?t=68 https://youtu.be/fgyDo_1d390?t=68 There's a gazillion "how cars are made" videos on YT but they are all full of irritating voiceovers and interviews. This one is a lot more just fun to watch.
- pengaru 5y ago
  There's also plenty FPV quadcopters flying through tight spaces vids that are quite good. Most of what makes the Tesla video interesting is the FPV perspective negotiating all the close calls. The factory and vehicle assembly shown otherwise didn't strike me as particularly interesting, but I'm probably not the target audience.
DanielSantos 5y ago
I have been to 3 Toyota factories and 1 Citroen. The process shown in the video is very similar. Tesla factory looks a bit slow, I guess because it’s new. Many steps are missing, like assembling doors/ hood before oaint shop. Interiors assembly also missing. I assume these are the more proprietary things from Tesla. What they showed are the common processes/tools across many manufacturers. They had too many cars parked inside the factory, normally that means defects that need to be fixed.
- tomatotomato37 5y ago
  I think the Tesla machinery may be running slower during filming to allow for some of the trick drone shots, else they catch it on something and damage a $200k press
  - greggsy 5y ago
    I think you need to multiply the price of the press by 10, but repairs and downtime might on ticket
- SEJeff 5y ago
  Herbert Deiss, the CEO of Volkswagen, recently lamented that a Model 3 is made by Tesla start to finish in approximately ten hours when an equivalent VW EV is made in a touch over thirty hours. The biggest producing automotive factory in the world is the famed VW Wolfsburg factory.
  - 0des 5y ago
    I know teslas are valued here, however, they're very inconsistent in quality. Though I'd never buy a VW I do respect that their craftsmanship surpasses that 30hr mark. Tesla is very much a 10hr car. When I see body panels that don't line up in more than one place in more than one vehicle its not me being picky. Its a rushed product with inadequate standard for quality control.
    - xeromal 5y ago
NovemberWhiskey 5y ago
I visited the BMW factory in Munich and saw the 3-series production line in 2015; it looks to be essentially the same level of automation as I saw then. The BMW factory has these cool rolling robots that move the partially constructed chassis around the factory rather than it having to move along a linear belt though; which is cooler IMO.
seb1204 5y ago
The BMW group Leipzig factory in Germany has also been said to be cutting edge. https://youtu.be/c6Ubjaar5BI https://youtu.be/c6Ubjaar5BI
- aeyes 5y ago
  What is also interesting is that it is about the same size as the Tesla Berlin factory, the "Giga"factory doesn't seem to be anything special. What is different is that I don't remember environmental protests when the BMW factory was built.
  - Reason077 5y ago
    The Tesla factory should be a bit bigger once fully scaled. BMW Leipzig produces around 350,000 vehicles per year while Tesla is aiming for 500,000. Tesla will also manufacture battery cells on site, which BMW doesn’t do.
  - erk__ 5y ago
    The BMW factory in question is not new, the foundation was laid in 2003. So unless you followed local Leipzig nwes back then I am not sure much will show up.
    - aeyes 5y ago
      I did, my parents house (built in the 90s) is on the other side of the highway. When I visit I often do runs around the factory which gives a good impression of the size of the area: Its a 10k run. They did some landscaping around the factory to offset the alterations, the factory also has 3 large wind turbines and a battery storage farm made from used EV batteries.
- sbierwagen 5y ago
  Hour long video of the i3 being produced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGi-KmYGuZE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGi-KmYGuZE Like the Tesla video, the secret sauce is omitted, (composite frame layup) but much attention lavished on commodity items. (motor coil winding)
sho_hn 5y ago
This is one of the most modern factories currently operating in series production, the recently-opened Factory 56: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjUzu9TY7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjUzu9TY7o
spaetzleesser 5y ago
I have seen Mercedes and Porsche factories. They look pretty similar. Some are new and look shinier but over time they get outdated. In production the devil is in the details anyways. You can have cutting edge processes with old equipment or bad processes with new equipment.
antattack 5y ago
Munro Live, who's video was linked to earlier in the thread, commented that Tesla line is shorter and more efficient as it takes only 12 hours to make one Model Y vs over 30 for VW EV. High assembly efficacy is mainly due to large front and read aluminum castings, new battery format 4680, and unique structural battery pack onto which, floor, seats and console are mounted and later integrated, in one go, into the chassis through the bottom of the vehicle.[0] [0]https://twitter.com/live_munro/status/1512215223268216833 https://twitter.com/live_munro/status/1512215223268216833
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  I like Sandy Munro, but he's not exactly an objective observer here.
  - antattack 5y ago
    From what I have seen Munro is quite objective in his views and has impressive team of experts. As to the claim, Herbert Diess, CEO of VG group had said it himself: Tesla needs 10 hours while VW 30[1]. Diess is planning on improving VW efficacy to 20 hours per vehicle next year: [1]https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-04/vw-ceo-tells-german-workers-tesla-factory-will-threaten-jobs?sref=LspfQlRv https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-04/vw-ceo-te...
    - FireBeyond 5y ago
      Tesla's QC issues speak to being rushed through. Note that Diess never talks about getting down to 10 hours. "We still plan on taking twice as long as Tesla..." because they have run the numbers on QC and service costs.
      - panick21_ 5y ago
        Its nonsense that Tesla has far higher service cost. And QC doesn't take 10 hours and its also not really the bottle neck as you can easily scale that. VW has already announced a next generation platform where they are copying many aspects of Tesla architecture.
hcrisp 5y ago
I saw the Ford F-150 assembly in Dearborn, and it was similar. Very extensive use of industrial robots. Vacuum manipulators to hold glass and quarter panels. Funny chair-lifts to support personnel who drop into the chassis to install the fabric liner. https://youtu.be/garZ8KkuBds https://youtu.be/garZ8KkuBds
sandgiant 5y ago
If you want to watch more car production line videos I highly recommend this channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GommeBlogIT https://www.youtube.com/c/GommeBlogIT.
panick21_ 5y ago
The Berlin factory is already significantly outpaced by the Tesla factory in Texas. The Texas cars have a more modern architecture. The Berlin factory still uses a number of old process the same as the Fremont factory and the Shanghai factory. The aluminum stamping on that scale is basically unique to Tesla but other companies are now slowly starting to copying that approach. However Tesla seems to be moving forward faster then others are catching up. In total this reduces the size of the bodyshop considerably. That said their traditional welding lines seem to still not be as perfect as those from other manufactures. This is mostly true for Fremont, Shanghai has a better reputation. Berlin will hopefully follow that. In that department Tesla has no advantage. The painting line is state of the art but not unique to Telsa, and new major expensive car factory would something similar. Most such factories are of course older so Tesla is ahead but there is certainty no moat there. In terms of the motors, electronics/wiring and body I would consider Tesla ahead. The battery packs currently made in Berlin I would still consider state of the art but nothing that special. The packs made in Texas are actually significantly ahead (for High-Nickel cells at least). In terms of final assembly and and interiors they are somewhat behind.
ripe 5y ago
This factory looks no different from any other big German auto facility. Maybe a little sparsely populated right now, probably because it's still growing. If you visit any Mercedes or BMW or Audi plant, you'll see the same big orange robots, too. They are KUKA arms, probably implemented by the same system integrators.

noipv4 5y ago

You can see a legendary version of the Mitsubishi Lancer being made in Japan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l6NoxgSTXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l6NoxgSTXM Process is very similar; stamping, welding, painting, wiring, assembling, shipping.

rootusrootus 5y ago
Nice, I hadn't seen that one before. And as you say, not just any Lancer, but the Evo.

jerlam 5y ago

It seems pretty similar. The only interesting aspects were the perspectives of the drone zooming through the assemblies, and Tesla's use of very complex castings; but I grew up around manufacturing/factories and was also lucky enough to see the NUMMI factory (Toyota/GM, now Tesla) before it closed. And that was over a decade ago, in a factory that was already decades old. Here's a similar video from Honda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCuclAl9AGo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCuclAl9AGo What's missing from the Tesla video is arguably the most important part: the batteries.

gpt5 5y ago
The video from Honda is so much better than the one from Tesla if you are actually looking to understand what is happening. It's also crazy how much faster the Honda machinery seems to operate at (it feels as if the video is sped up).
- Atheros 5y ago
  Parts of it definitely are including the machinery. It's obvious during certain human assembly clips- humans don't move that fast. Any clips that include a swinging tool aren't sped up because the false pendulum motion would be too obvious.
jah242 5y ago
Great video but I think what this really highlighted for me is how almost comically complicated ICE engines are to put together.
- csours 5y ago
  Yes, but that happens in a different factory, similar to how batteries are not made on the same assembly line as a vehicle.
- SEJeff 5y ago
  And that’s why they break more often compared to an EV.
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    In theory. Has that actually played out in reality yet? Teslas aren't exactly the pinnacle of reliability, and other EVs are produced in low enough volumes that it may be difficult to draw real comparisons yet. Also, most of the parts of a car that wear out are shared between EV and ICE. Modern ICE drivetrains rarely break and routinely last the lifetime of the car.
    - SEJeff 5y ago
      I mean there are very detailed overviews of Model S taxis with 400k miles on them. There are many many Model 3s with 150-200k miles on them. Anecdotally, teslas seem to last a very long time. Things that break on ICE vehicles commonly EVs don’t have: * fanbelts * flywheels * alternators * starters * spark plugs * transmissions * etc In practice, Teslas break most when other drivers hit them.
      - rootusrootus 5y ago
        There are countless examples of ICE cars going hundreds of thousands of miles, too. > In practice, Teslas break most when other drivers hit them. Have you been to a service center? They're packed, especially when compared to Tesla's market penetration. And none of the cars I saw there were wrecked. Just broken. Tesla cars will most likely last about the same length of time as a current ICE vehicle, because what mostly kills vehicles is body rot. I'm even open to the argument that Teslas will have lower average lifespan, to be honest, due to the rate of change in the EV marketplace.
bko 5y ago
Do you know how those welding arms know where to weld? Are there some special markers on the metal? Or vision? Or it's precise enough they know the actual location and just go assume it'll be correctly aligned?
- matt-attack 5y ago
  Robots like that use servo motors to precisely locate their arms. No vision is required. They’re basically going to preprogrammed positions in 3 space. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servomotor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servomotor
  - manquer 5y ago
    I would expect some corrections within some tolerance to be made. These are fine operations and the piece being worked on may not be placed in the correct place to the mm, otherwise there will be constant stops and damaged parts
    - notatoad 5y ago
      servos are very precise, that's why get get used for this sort of operation. they might need to be recalibrated as the parts inside them or attatched to them get physically worn down, but that's the sort of thing that would happen during a maintenance shutdown, not inbetween each workpiece.
      - extrapickles 5y ago
        Some of them compensate for wear if the wear rate is known (eg: 1000 welds cause .5mm erosion on the electrodes). You can only do this until the tool geometry becomes unsuitable for that particular operation.
      - manquer 5y ago
        Why would you not want basic feedback loop built into a control system so it is not high maintenance? Adding a say simple laser distance measurement sensor to make sure the piece is at the distance it is supposed to be is not difficult, computer vision and AI maybe overkill but a simple sensor ? Also a lot of inspection seems to done by hand, while good inspectors can be smart about finding issues , Why not scan the entire car and see if there are abnormalities over accepted range ? it is like manual QA, I rather have automation suite rather that inconsistency of a manual process. I am sure people are already thinking about it, Musk certainly was making a big push for more automation (and ran into a ton of difficulties )
bee_rider 5y ago
Massive anthropomorphism of course, but it they machines look so wonderfully careful and attentive in this video.
Animats 5y ago
The classic in this genre is "Master Hands".[1] (1936) The assembly machinery shown starting here[2] is clearly the direct ancestor of what you see today. [1] https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM [2] https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM?t=1299 https://youtu.be/escYIhTexDM?t=1299
cromwellian 5y ago
Keep in mind Tesla’s factory makes the batteries and motors in the same building, it’s vertically integrated. For Ford I know these are imported from Europe and China.

jeffbee 5y ago

You can see e.g. same kinds of body stamping at https://youtu.be/fgyDo_1d390?t=68 https://youtu.be/fgyDo_1d390?t=68 There's a gazillion "how cars are made" videos on YT but they are all full of irritating voiceovers and interviews. This one is a lot more just fun to watch.

pengaru 5y ago
There's also plenty FPV quadcopters flying through tight spaces vids that are quite good. Most of what makes the Tesla video interesting is the FPV perspective negotiating all the close calls. The factory and vehicle assembly shown otherwise didn't strike me as particularly interesting, but I'm probably not the target audience.

DanielSantos 5y ago

I have been to 3 Toyota factories and 1 Citroen. The process shown in the video is very similar. Tesla factory looks a bit slow, I guess because it’s new. Many steps are missing, like assembling doors/ hood before oaint shop. Interiors assembly also missing. I assume these are the more proprietary things from Tesla. What they showed are the common processes/tools across many manufacturers. They had too many cars parked inside the factory, normally that means defects that need to be fixed.

tomatotomato37 5y ago
I think the Tesla machinery may be running slower during filming to allow for some of the trick drone shots, else they catch it on something and damage a $200k press
- greggsy 5y ago
  I think you need to multiply the price of the press by 10, but repairs and downtime might on ticket
SEJeff 5y ago
Herbert Deiss, the CEO of Volkswagen, recently lamented that a Model 3 is made by Tesla start to finish in approximately ten hours when an equivalent VW EV is made in a touch over thirty hours. The biggest producing automotive factory in the world is the famed VW Wolfsburg factory.
- 0des 5y ago
  I know teslas are valued here, however, they're very inconsistent in quality. Though I'd never buy a VW I do respect that their craftsmanship surpasses that 30hr mark. Tesla is very much a 10hr car. When I see body panels that don't line up in more than one place in more than one vehicle its not me being picky. Its a rushed product with inadequate standard for quality control.
  - xeromal 5y ago

NovemberWhiskey 5y ago

I visited the BMW factory in Munich and saw the 3-series production line in 2015; it looks to be essentially the same level of automation as I saw then. The BMW factory has these cool rolling robots that move the partially constructed chassis around the factory rather than it having to move along a linear belt though; which is cooler IMO.

seb1204 5y ago

The BMW group Leipzig factory in Germany has also been said to be cutting edge. https://youtu.be/c6Ubjaar5BI https://youtu.be/c6Ubjaar5BI

aeyes 5y ago
What is also interesting is that it is about the same size as the Tesla Berlin factory, the "Giga"factory doesn't seem to be anything special. What is different is that I don't remember environmental protests when the BMW factory was built.
- Reason077 5y ago
  The Tesla factory should be a bit bigger once fully scaled. BMW Leipzig produces around 350,000 vehicles per year while Tesla is aiming for 500,000. Tesla will also manufacture battery cells on site, which BMW doesn’t do.
- erk__ 5y ago
  The BMW factory in question is not new, the foundation was laid in 2003. So unless you followed local Leipzig nwes back then I am not sure much will show up.
  - aeyes 5y ago
    I did, my parents house (built in the 90s) is on the other side of the highway. When I visit I often do runs around the factory which gives a good impression of the size of the area: Its a 10k run. They did some landscaping around the factory to offset the alterations, the factory also has 3 large wind turbines and a battery storage farm made from used EV batteries.
sbierwagen 5y ago
Hour long video of the i3 being produced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGi-KmYGuZE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGi-KmYGuZE Like the Tesla video, the secret sauce is omitted, (composite frame layup) but much attention lavished on commodity items. (motor coil winding)

sho_hn 5y ago

This is one of the most modern factories currently operating in series production, the recently-opened Factory 56: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjUzu9TY7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjUzu9TY7o

spaetzleesser 5y ago

I have seen Mercedes and Porsche factories. They look pretty similar. Some are new and look shinier but over time they get outdated. In production the devil is in the details anyways. You can have cutting edge processes with old equipment or bad processes with new equipment.

antattack 5y ago

Munro Live, who's video was linked to earlier in the thread, commented that Tesla line is shorter and more efficient as it takes only 12 hours to make one Model Y vs over 30 for VW EV. High assembly efficacy is mainly due to large front and read aluminum castings, new battery format 4680, and unique structural battery pack onto which, floor, seats and console are mounted and later integrated, in one go, into the chassis through the bottom of the vehicle.[0] [0]https://twitter.com/live_munro/status/1512215223268216833 https://twitter.com/live_munro/status/1512215223268216833

rootusrootus 5y ago
I like Sandy Munro, but he's not exactly an objective observer here.
- antattack 5y ago
  From what I have seen Munro is quite objective in his views and has impressive team of experts. As to the claim, Herbert Diess, CEO of VG group had said it himself: Tesla needs 10 hours while VW 30[1]. Diess is planning on improving VW efficacy to 20 hours per vehicle next year: [1]https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-04/vw-ceo-tells-german-workers-tesla-factory-will-threaten-jobs?sref=LspfQlRv https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-04/vw-ceo-te...
  - FireBeyond 5y ago
    Tesla's QC issues speak to being rushed through. Note that Diess never talks about getting down to 10 hours. "We still plan on taking twice as long as Tesla..." because they have run the numbers on QC and service costs.
    - panick21_ 5y ago
      Its nonsense that Tesla has far higher service cost. And QC doesn't take 10 hours and its also not really the bottle neck as you can easily scale that. VW has already announced a next generation platform where they are copying many aspects of Tesla architecture.

hcrisp 5y ago

I saw the Ford F-150 assembly in Dearborn, and it was similar. Very extensive use of industrial robots. Vacuum manipulators to hold glass and quarter panels. Funny chair-lifts to support personnel who drop into the chassis to install the fabric liner. https://youtu.be/garZ8KkuBds https://youtu.be/garZ8KkuBds

sandgiant 5y ago

If you want to watch more car production line videos I highly recommend this channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GommeBlogIT https://www.youtube.com/c/GommeBlogIT.

panick21_ 5y ago

The Berlin factory is already significantly outpaced by the Tesla factory in Texas. The Texas cars have a more modern architecture. The Berlin factory still uses a number of old process the same as the Fremont factory and the Shanghai factory. The aluminum stamping on that scale is basically unique to Tesla but other companies are now slowly starting to copying that approach. However Tesla seems to be moving forward faster then others are catching up. In total this reduces the size of the bodyshop considerably. That said their traditional welding lines seem to still not be as perfect as those from other manufactures. This is mostly true for Fremont, Shanghai has a better reputation. Berlin will hopefully follow that. In that department Tesla has no advantage. The painting line is state of the art but not unique to Telsa, and new major expensive car factory would something similar. Most such factories are of course older so Tesla is ahead but there is certainty no moat there. In terms of the motors, electronics/wiring and body I would consider Tesla ahead. The battery packs currently made in Berlin I would still consider state of the art but nothing that special. The packs made in Texas are actually significantly ahead (for High-Nickel cells at least). In terms of final assembly and and interiors they are somewhat behind.

ripe 5y ago

This factory looks no different from any other big German auto facility. Maybe a little sparsely populated right now, probably because it's still growing. If you visit any Mercedes or BMW or Audi plant, you'll see the same big orange robots, too. They are KUKA arms, probably implemented by the same system integrators.