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Tesla is expanding its Model Y production line at Fremont

The Fremont factory. (Credit: Tesla)

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Tesla is planning to expand its Model Y production lines at the Fremont facility located in Silicon Valley, California.

According to two applications that were spotted on Fremont’s Public Access website, there are several planned advancements of “General Assembly 4.5,” which has been designated for Model Y production at the production facility.

In the past, GA 4.5 was also responsible for the production of the Model 3 sedan in late 2018. GA 4.5 is effectively an outdoor tent that Tesla placed outside of the main building. It currently holds five production lines, with the most recent being installed in September 2019. Tesla planned to expand GA 4.5 in April 2020 but had to find solutions to handle stormwater drainage.

The applications are named “4.5 Expansion Rev 1” and “F20-0048-F DCM2 Arch & MEP.” DCM2 could refer to a second die-cast machine in GA 4.5 that will allow the Model Y to be manufactured with a single-piece casting design.

“The current version of Model Y has basically two big high-pressure die-cast [HPDC] aluminum castings that are joined, and there’s still a bunch of other bits that are attached. Later this year. We’ll transition to the rear underbody being a single-piece casting that also integrates the rear crash rails,” CEO Elon Musk said earlier this year.

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The IDRA OL6100 CS, dubbed as the “Giga Press.” (Credit: IDRA)

It was reported in early June that Tesla was planning to purchase the massive “Giga Press” for Model Y production. But now, the name of the application seems to infer that Tesla is planning to install a second die-cast machine for the Model Y to increase production volume.

Additionally, the F20-0048-F DCM2 Arch & MEP application shows Tesla’s planned expansion of a new “canopy structure” that will connect to the main assembly building.

The expansion is broken down into Mechanical, Process, and Controls.

Mechanical

“Process cooling water & natural gas piping distribution design from existing ab utility mains to new casting area outside. Industrial water to serve process equipment. New cooling tower & distribution pump added to existing ab cooling tower yard.”

Process

“Installation of soft water system with distribution piping & accessories. Installation of new compressed air header with filters, distribution & accessories. Installation of new argon and nitrogen distribution with accessories. Installation of new trade waste piping from the tie point inside the building to dcm2 area with pipes, pumps & accessories.”

Controls

“Installation of new sensors on chilled water lines to monitor & control process Installation & networking of new VFD’s to provide control of cooling tower.”

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The Fremont factory. (Credit: Tesla)

Tesla is preparing for a massive push of the Model Y crossover as demand for the company’s vehicles continues to increase. After delivering 90,650 cars in Q2 2020, the next step is to begin increasing production and delivery figures to sustain growth and increase the consecutive streak of profitable quarters for the electric automaker.

In early June, Musk indicated via email to Fremont employees that the company needed to continue to increase the production of the Model Y by stating that rectifications were to be minimized and that everyone’s effort was appreciated. “I want you to know that it really makes a difference to Tesla right now,” the Tesla frontman said in the email.

After ditching the plans to produce the Standard Range Model Y due to range deficiencies, Tesla can focus on the Long Range and Performance configurations of the vehicle, which have been widely popular within the community thus far.

Tesla’s Long Range and Performance Model Y variants are available for $49,990 and $59,990 respectively.

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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Elon Musk

Elon Musk teases the capabilities of the Tesla Roadster once again

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Elon Musk has once again teased the capabilities of the Tesla Roadster, fueling the anticipation that many have for the vehicle, despite it still having no public production or delivery date.

The Roadster is among the most anticipated vehicles in the automotive sector currently, and as Tesla has teased its capabilities, from a lightning-fast 1.1-second 0-60 MPH acceleration to potential hovering with cold-gas thrusters, people are eager to see it.

Although the design seemed to be finalized, there was still more work to be done. Earlier this year, as Tesla was showcasing some of the Roadster’s capabilities to Musk, he stated that it was capable of even more.

This pushed back its production date even further, much to the chagrin of those who have been waiting years for it.

Musk continues to tease us all, and as we sit here waiting hopelessly for it to be revealed, he said today that it is “something special beyond a car.”

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Musk’s words were in response to a video posted by Tesla China, showing the Roadster in a new promotional video created by a fan.

The Roadster was planned to be released in 2020, but here we are in 2025, and there is still no sign of the vehicle entering production. However, Tesla did say earlier this year that it would host a demo event for the Roadster, where the company would showcase its capabilities.

Lars Moravy said earlier this year:

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“Roadster is definitely in development. We did talk about it last Sunday night. We are gearing up for a super cool demo. It’s going to be mind-blowing; We showed Elon some cool demos last week of the tech we’ve been working on, and he got a little excited.”

Tesla exec gives big update on Roadster, confirming recent rumor

The delays have been attributed to “radically increased design goals” for the vehicle, which have, without a doubt, improved its capabilities, but at the same time, we just want to know if it’s ever going to come.

Tesla can always make it “better,” but at what point do you say, “Okay, it’s time to show this thing off.” They could always build another, even more capable supercar in the next ten years.

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Elon Musk reiterates shocking xAI detail, and hints at an upcoming monster

He also announced that xAI’s upcoming model, Grok 5, will begin training very soon.

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MINISTÉRIO DAS COMUNICAÇÕES, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk has reiterated a rather shocking tidbit about xAI’s impressive scores at the ARC-AGI benchmark.

He also announced that xAI’s upcoming model, Grok 5, will begin training very soon.

xAI results on the ARC-AGI benchmark

In a recent post on social media platform X, Greg Kamradt, President of the ARC Prize Foundation, noted that Grok 4 has been used in two SOTA submissions to the ARC-AGI V1 and V2 benchmarks. The submissions, which were the best that the foundation has encountered to date, were done using xAI’s large language model, Grok 4. 

As per Kamradt, when asked about why the submissions were done using Grok 4, the authors stated that “It was the best model I used in testing.” Musk was evidently proud of this accomplishment, though he also highlighted that these accomplishments were attained with just Grok 4. This suggests that once Grok 5 is in the picture, xAI’s lead in the AI sector could become notable.

Grok 5 incoming

Elon Musk has shared a number of tidbits about Grok 5 as of late. In recent comments on X, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO stated that he believes Grok 5 has the potential to actually reach artificial general intelligence (AGI). This suggests that Grok 5 would be nothing short of a monster, as it could be capable of matching or surpassing human-level intelligence across tasks such as thinking, reasoning, and other domains by a substantial margin.

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Grok 5 may also be coming soon. As per Musk in another post on X, xAI will be starting the training of Grok 5 in a few weeks. Musk definitely seems to be highly optimistic about the capabilities of Grok 5, with the CEO stating late last month that the update would be coming before the end of the year and that it will be “crushingly good.”

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SpaceX is partnering with chipmakers to enable Starlink satellite-to-cell service

President Gwynne Shotwell outlined the effort during a space industry conference in Paris.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX is working with microchip manufacturers to integrate satellite-connectivity hardware into smartphones, advancing its plan for direct-to-device services through Starlink. 

The move follows the company’s $17 billion acquisition of wireless spectrum from EchoStar Corp., a deal that positions SpaceX to operate more independently of traditional telecom carriers. 

President Gwynne Shotwell outlined the effort during a space industry conference in Paris this week, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.

Starlink direct-to-device

Starlink currently serves millions of customers in over 100 countries, primarily through ground-based dishes. The company, however, is now expanding into satellite-to-cell service, which should enable unmodified phones to connect directly with orbiting satellites. While SpaceX has a partnership with T-Mobile US, the EchoStar spectrum purchase gives it more control to negotiate with global carriers on its own terms.

“We’re working with chip manufacturers to get the proper chips in phones,” the SpaceX President stated. “We will now be initiating discussions with telcos in a different way now. Now it’s our spectrum, but we want to work with them, almost providing capacity and wholesaling capacity to their customers.”

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The company plans to launch satellites capable of supporting its direct-to-device business within two years, with early mobile phone testing expected by late 2026.

Starship program continues test flights

Shotwell also addressed SpaceX’s Starship program, which recently completed its 10th test flight in August. She said the mission met all objectives, providing a critical morale boost to teams after a challenging development year. 

“My Starship team needed that win,” Shotwell noted. “Development programs always are kind of a 24/7 operation, and I was really pleased for them.”

SpaceX is planning to fly one more iteration of the current Starship prototype, known as V2, before transitioning to the next-generation V3 vehicle. That version, expected to debut late this year or early 2026, is designed to be more capable and support eventual crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. 

“The V3, which we want to fly hopefully late this year, but maybe early next year, is really the vehicle that could take humans to the moon and Mars,” Shotwell stated.

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