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EXCLUSIVE: Tesla Cybertruck battery packs to be built at Fremont Factory

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils futuristic Cybertruck in Los Angeles, Nov. 21, 2019 (Photo: Teslarati)

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Tesla plans to start building battery packs for the upcoming Cybertruck on a new cell manufacturing line in the Fremont factory, people with knowledge of the project told Teslarati.

In August, we reported that Tesla had filed to build a new battery manufacturing equipment line on the second floor of the Fremont factory. This filing, which was submitted to the City of Fremont on August 30, relates to the module portion of the line, Tesla said.

Tesla described the project as “CTA Battery B-Build,” the filing shows.

tesla filing

Credit: City of Fremont

Tesla is ultimately planning to build the Cybertruck in Austin at Gigafactory Texas. However, battery cells and cell pack manufacturing are not yet ready to take off at the new Tesla plant, which is located just outside Austin. Tesla applied to build a battery and cathode manufacturing building at Gigafactory Texas earlier this year, and while the project has been started, it likely will not be ready for the Cybertruck’s projected launch in mid-2023.

With an extensive order log that features over 1 million total reservations, Tesla is preparing for Cybertruck manufacturing by building the battery packs at a plant that is already operational. The Fremont facility, the only Tesla plant manufacturing all four vehicles the company builds, was ultimately chosen for the task of kicking off Cybertruck pack manufacturing, Teslarati confirmed with sources familiar with the matter.

Cybertruck Battery Pack Manufacturing will start in Fremont

Sources familiar with the matter told Teslarati the second-floor manufacturing line that Tesla filed to build in August will manufacture the Cybertruck packs. Tesla will take the 4680 battery cells produced at the Kato Road facility or another previously utilized cell design manufactured at Gigafactory Nevada and put them into modules and packs that are manufactured on the new Fremont battery line.

Currently, the line is being completed by construction crews on site, who are making daily progress. Additionally, Tesla engineers are installing automation equipment to produce the Cybertruck battery packs.

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Tesla did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Kicking Cybertruck Module Production into “Plaid Mode”

Tesla is also working hard to kick off Cybertruck pack production as time is extremely limited. Tesla has a series of vehicles, referred to as “carriers,” which transport batteries throughout the factory. The company recently ordered around 300 new carriers for the factory as cell and battery pack manufacturing is set to ramp drastically.

The sources also said the Cybertruck battery pack line is currently being tested with Tesla’s automation equipment. Tesla is working to ramp the line quickly as Cybertruck vehicle manufacturing is planned for next year at Gigafactory Texas.

2023: The Year of the Tesla Cybertruck?

Tesla is set to build the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas. After unveiling the all-electric pickup in 2019, Tesla has delayed initial production on several occasions due to supply chain issues and other challenges.

“In 2022, supply chain will continue to be the fundamental limiter of output across all factories,” Musk said during Tesla’s Q4 and 2021 Full Year Earnings Call in January. So the chip shortage, while better than last year, is still an issue. And, yeah, so that’s — there are multiple supply chain challenges.”

Musk went on to say that the challenges would delay the launch of any new products in 2022. “We will, however, do a lot of engineering and tooling, what not to create those vehicles: Cybertruck, Semi, Roadster, Optimus, and be ready to bring those to production hopefully next year. That is most likely.”

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Although Tesla is planning to begin deliveries of the Semi on December 1, all other projects have been effectively delayed until next year, but preparation to launch those projects is evidently a priority within the factories.

4680 cells are not constrained but are they going into the Cybertruck?

Tesla’s Vice President of Powertrain Drew Baglino detailed earlier this year that the company was not constrained in terms of 4680 battery cell availability.

“So throughout 2021, we focused on growing cell supply alongside our in-house 4680 effort to provide us flexibility and insurance as we attempt to grow as fast as possible,” Baglino said on the Q4 and Full Year 2021 Earnings Call in January. “4680 cells are not a constraint to our 2022 volume plans based on the information we have.”

What Baglino said next on the call likely indicates what Tesla was preparing the Cybertruck for: pack manufacturing at Fremont, shipping the packs to Texas, and then installing them into vehicles:

“But we are making meaningful progress of the ramp curve in Kato. We’re building 4680 structural packs every day, which are being assembled into vehicles in Texas. I was driving one yesterday and the day before. And we believe our first 4680 vehicles will be delivered this quarter.”

The Kato Road facility has supported Tesla’s 4680 cell needs thus far. The 4680 packs were installed on some Gigafactory Texas-built Model Ys, and were reviewed by Munro Live earlier this year. Fremont will likely support Cybertruck pack manufacturing for some time, utilizing cells from Kato Road and from suppliers like Panasonic when they ultimately being manufacturing the battery for Tesla.

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As Cybertruck manufacturing ramps up into late 2023, 2024, and beyond, packs will then be at Fremont and Gigafactory Texas, which would likely entirely support Cybertruck production.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla makes good on its Cybercab promise in just two weeks

Tesla Cybercab riders can now pull up a rear camera view and darken the screen.

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Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)

Tesla has given Cybercab passengers a way to see what is behind them, along with a way to turn the cabin screen off entirely.

Riders in Austin can now bring up a live rearview camera feed on the Cybercab’s center display in the middle of a trip. Austin rider Ethan McKanna spotted the change late Friday night, posting from a ride that “You can now open the camera to view what’s behind you in Cybercab!” His photo shows a strip of rear camera video across the top of the screen, with another Cybercab following on a bridge. Sawyer Merritt shared the image Saturday and wrote that it “sounds like” there is also a new quiet mode that darkens the entire screen for riders who want to relax, sleep, or avoid a bright display at night.

The camera view goes beyond the rear feed. Tesla UI software engineer Evan, who posts as @CarCoder, replied to McKanna with a tip: “You can also tap it to see more cameras, and swipe it up or down to hide and show.” Until now, the Cybercab only showed its rear and repeater feeds on the “Please Exit Safely” screen at the end of a ride, so passengers could check for cyclists and traffic before opening a door.


Quiet mode surfaced a day earlier. Austin rider Jackson Blatz posted a video Friday morning of the new Robotaxi interface in a Cybercab with the option. Tesla has not published release notes for either feature.

The rear camera view moved quickly from request to release. Earlier this month, Cybercab rider Dan Burkland asked Tesla to let passengers pull up the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Evan answered “In development,” as Teslarati reported at the time. About two weeks later, riders have it.

The feature fills a gap created by the Cybercab’s design. With no steering wheel, no pedals, no mirrors and no rear window, a passenger has no natural way to glance behind the car. The eight exterior cameras that feed Tesla’s autonomy software were already on board, so the change only required software.

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There is also an AI angle to how it was built. Yun-Ta Tsai, a senior staff engineer on Tesla’s AI team, quoted Merritt’s post and wrote that the “(human) camera view tuning is optimized with Grok and implements part of the algorithm by directly programming the fixed-function hardware, so I don’t even need to check the datasheet.” Tsai did not say which part of the algorithm Grok handled. Grok already plays a bigger role inside the vehicle, with Grok Bot now enabled across every Cybercab and the Model Y Robotaxi fleet after Tesla brought the agent into its cars in September.

The two features join a busy week of changes for riders in Austin, which also brought a redesigned Live Activity for iPhone and Apple Watch and live trip sharing. They also arrive as Tesla prepares the Cybercab for life outside its own fleet. On the third quarter earnings call, Lars Moravy said the company is aiming to deliver Cybercabs to customers before the end of 2026. Tesla has not said whether the camera view and quiet mode will also come to its Model Y Robotaxis.

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Tesla shows what Roadster drivers will see on screen before thruster activation

Tesla’s Roadster video reveals a fighter jet inspired cockpit with a 5,500 PSI thruster gauge.

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The next generation Tesla Roadster’s touchscreen, shown in Tesla’s first official look at the car’s interface. (Credit: Tesla/X)

Tesla has given future owners their clearest look yet at the cockpit of its next generation Roadster. In a 34 second video posted to X on Friday afternoon, the company walked through the car’s touchscreen with a caption: “Inspired by fighter jet cockpits, Roadster’s interface was designed around the pilot.”

The clip opens on a black screen with red graphics and a 3D wireframe of the car, which sits beside the Roadster’s squared off yoke. Tapping parts of the model brings up controls for the rear wing, including low drag and high downforce positions, along with a charging page with a charge limit bar and a small music player. A row of tabs along the bottom reads Home, Vehicle, Listen, Climate and Navigate.

Most of the video is spent in Track Mode. The dashboard shows a live circuit map, a list of session lap times, brake and motor temperatures, and pressure and temperature readouts for each tire. A setup page lets the driver pick Auto, Low Drag, High Downforce or Custom aero modes, adjust aero balance and brake balance, and switch stability and traction control off. Along the bottom, a status bar reads “Thruster · 5,500 PSI” next to a “Boost Ready” indicator.

That gauge ties the software to the hardware Tesla showed off near Waco, Texas on October 15. The Thrust and Rocket versions use cold gas thrusters fed by carbon overwrapped pressure vessels, and Tesla lists 0 to 60 mph times of under 0.9 seconds and under 0.59 seconds for them, as Teslarati detailed in its breakdown of the three Roadster configurations. The base Performance car relies on a fan and ground sealing system for grip, and the aero settings on screen match the active wings and suction setup covered in our look at how the Roadster generates downforce.

The Roadster layout is a departure from the rest of Tesla’s lineup. Instead of a map centered screen, the Roadster puts the car itself at the center of the home page, and Tesla’s Roadster page lists two smaller forward displays alongside the main touchscreen. Tesla has not said whether any of the Track Mode telemetry will make its way to the Model 3 Performance or other vehicles.

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The interface could still change before deliveries. Elon Musk said at the event that Roadster production will begin in 2028, and Tesla says the flagship Rocket version is not approved for public road use. Reservations are open with a $50,000 payment, while Thrust is listed as a limited release and Rocket is invite only.

Those who want to see the car in person will get their first chance this weekend. The Roadster goes on display in the lobby of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles from October 24 to 27, according to Sawyer Merritt, the first time the public will be able to view it up close.

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Tesla reveals Optimus Academy, where robots teach themselves

Tesla has begun building production quality Optimus robots in Fremont and revealed its training plan.

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Concept rendering of Tesla Optimus in mass production

Tesla has started building Optimus on the high volume line it set up inside its Fremont factory, and the company says the robots coming off it are the first that meet the bar for a real product. “The bots coming off this line are the first production-quality bots that we have manufactured,” Tesla wrote in its third quarter shareholder letter, adding that it has “proven that the current manufacturing process for Optimus is suitable for a commercial product.”

The line sits in space that built the Model S and Model X until this spring. Tesla cleared the old vehicle line in 46 days, as Teslarati reported in July, to make room for robot production sized for one million units a year. On Wednesday’s earnings call, Elon Musk said most of the equipment for that capacity is already in Fremont, with output set to climb toward roughly 20,000 robots a week as the line ramps.

Musk described the ramp as a classic S curve. “The growth of Optimus is an S curve, but the initial curve is a shallow slope,” he said. The team is now refining the robot’s AI, electromechanical design, reliability and service life, and Musk expects that work to be finished by the end of next year, when Tesla plans to start delivering Optimus to outside companies for dangerous, repetitive and around the clock jobs.

The most interesting part of the call was how Tesla plans to teach the robots. Its cars send real driving data back to the AI team from millions of vehicles, but Optimus has no fleet like that yet. “A big difference with Optimus versus the cars is we don’t have this vast fleet of cars from which we can gather training data,” Musk said. Tesla’s answer is an Optimus Academy, where 10,000 to 20,000 robots will practice a wide range of tasks and feed what they learn into the next version of the model. Every unit off the Fremont line becomes a source of that training data.

Smarter hardware is on the way too. Tesla plans to put its AI5 chip into Optimus next year, and Musk said a new Optimus video should arrive within one or two months showing the robot completing tasks driven by AI rather than preprogrammed motions. He took aim at rival humanoid demos that only run scripted routines, saying those would not hold up in the real world.

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The supply chain is lining up behind the program. In September, Tesla certified Tuopu, Joyson and Sanhua as mass production partners for Optimus components. A far larger Optimus factory is also rising at Giga Texas, where drone footage from Joe Tegtmeyer showed the steel frame nearing completion, and Musk has pegged that plant’s long term target at 10 million robots a year.

Tesla executives also said Optimus production costs are trending toward the expected manufacturing cost of Cybercab, a sign the robot is being engineered for volume from the start. The hands remain the toughest piece of the design, a point Musk also made at the X Takeover event earlier this month, as Teslarati covered at the time, and that is where much of the current engineering effort is focused.

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