Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas will reportedly pause its Model Y assembly line to implement upgrades at the beginning of July. According to Joe Tegtmeyer, a drone pilot who has been constantly scanning the facility ever since the start of construction, the downtime is expected to last about five days.
Citing his own observations of the Giga Texas complex and information reportedly gathered from some of his sources, Tegtmeyer noted in a post on Twitter (via Teslarati) that Giga Texas is switching away from swing shifts, instead going to day and night shifts only. He said the new shifts are expected to go into effect after the production upgrades are completed.
As it always happens after a production line upgrade, the Model Y production rate is expected to take an initial hit as employees get trained and become familiar with the revised production lines, equipment, and layouts.
However, after a short period, the production rate will increase, Tegtmeyer anticipates, noting that it will surpass the 5,000 units per week rate recently achieved at Giga Texas.
Interestingly, he claims Tesla workers who were formerly on the swing shift are being redirected to the Cybertruck production lines. This will reportedly allow Tesla to finalize testing, calibration, and get the lines into production status. Tegtmeyer estimates this will take place throughout July and into early August.
If this information is accurate, it might mean that Tesla will be finally able to start production of the Cybertruck sometime in August or September, just in time for the Cybertruck handover event expected at the end of the third quarter.
Of course, in the absence of official confirmation from Tesla, this is just speculation for now, so you should take it all with a grain of salt.
In his tweet, Tegtmeyer also mentioned a new Tesla manufacturing site some 20 miles southwest of Giga Texas. The site is said to produce seats and possibly some other sub-assemblies, which may support both Model Y and Cybertruck production. He expects the facility to begin production within the next few months.
Gallery: Tesla Giga Texas (Tesla Gigafactory 5)
