New Tesla factory has an indoor test track

[RedDevil]

Tesla has recently started the assembly of the Model S for the European market in its new factory in Tilburg, the Netherlands.


It is not much of an assembly though.
The rear engine sub-frame and batteries are shipped separately for safety reasons, but the paint and interior were done in the USA. What still needs to be done is the joining of the frame and pack to the car, wheels on, fluids fill and all round system test.
Yet this greatly enhances Tesla's capacity to deliver cars over Europe.

Key feature of the plant is its indoor test track:

... Teslas rumble across teeth-rattling Belgian pavé, before hitting 110kph – just over 60mph – down the back straight.

'Not many manufacturers have a test track inside!' jokes Gilbert Passin, VP of manufacturing in Tilburg and Fremont. 'We have no emissions so it's easy for us, and it gives us consistent, dry conditions.'

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

It is not much of an assembly though.
The rear engine sub-frame and batteries are shipped separately for safety reasons, but the paint and interior were done in the USA. What still needs to be done is the joining of the frame and pack to the car, wheels on, fluids fill and all round system test.

I would hardly consider such a CKD assembly line as a properly-said factory.

Yet this greatly enhances Tesla's capacity to deliver cars over Europe

Does it decrease the expense with import duties or the marine freight costs of the parts shipped from the United States?

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Does it decrease the expense with import duties or the marine freight costs of the parts shipped from the United States?

The special measures needed to transport high-voltage battery packs makes it worthwhile to transport those separately from the cars.
The packs need to be kept alive too - if they are in the car too long without being charged they would deteriorate.

The batteryless Model S bodies now ship in sea freight containers in foursomes.
I bet it is much cheaper to do it this way.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

The special measures needed to transport high-voltage battery packs makes it worthwhile to transport those separately from the cars.
The packs need to be kept alive too - if they are in the car too long without being charged they would deteriorate.

It sounds complicated, but seems to justify the process.

The batteryless Model S bodies now ship in sea freight containers in foursomes.
I bet it is much cheaper to do it this way.

Wouldn't still make more sense to have the bodyshells made in Europe instead?

[gone-ot]

Cost of shipping is FAR less than the cost of (a) manufacturing facility plus (b) manufacturing employees. Especially if TESLA has designed everything as "plug-n-play" assembly...just bolt the parts together, plug-in the connectors, test...and, wash & wax.

[oil pan 4]

If you look closely the track appears to be paved with tax payer dollars.

[markweatherill]

That facility opened a couple of years ago to assemble European Model S cars.

Here's a quote from another website as to why...

this is a ‘final assembly‘ facility, meaning they are mostly just re-assembled after leaving Tesla’s Fremont factory in California in order to meet domestic manufacturing/regulatory standards and to avoid extra EU taxation/import tariff rules.

The ‘final assembly‘ process reportedly takes about 2-3 hours per vehicle, but saves about ~10% worth of fees added to the EVs’ pricing. Countries such as Norway and Switzerland do not have these hurdles in place, and thus those vehicles are efficiently shipped complete from the US.

[oil pan 4]

We have been giving them money for more than a couple years.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

We have been giving them money for more than a couple years.

Tesla has already paid us back, ahead of schedule.