Today’s first for the ‘one new thing a day for 100 days’ new years resolution was a tour at the Tesla Factory in Fremont, CA. Tesla’s mission is to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”. They produce high end, 100% electric cars. Having recently partnered with Solar City, they as well produce solar panels and power packs (battery back up).
The size of the factory blew me away – 92 football fields! The space originally belonged to GM back in 1962, who teamed up with Toyota in 1982 and the plant then became the site for NUMMI, New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc.
In 2009, Tesla bought the factory for 8 bucks per sq foot, or 53 million dollars 🙂 Photos were strictly prohibited during the tour, though I did manage to snap one or two..
The tour was pretty awesome, I had never been in a modern car assembly plant – not to mention one whose manufacturing process uses 160 specialist robots, including 10 of the largest robots in the world. I lucked out and sat next to the one employee who happened to be on the tour with his in-laws. He works at the plant as a quality engineer, so I was able to get a lil’ extra 411..
Sorry the pictures are minimal, but again, they were very strict about taking photos and we had to sign a NDA.
If you get the chance to go on this tour, hop on board!!
GET FIT WITH KATE 