SpaceX begins assembling Starbase’s biggest manufacturing building yet
It might not look like much today but SpaceX has begun assembling what is set to become Starbase’s largest Starship manufacturing facility.
The structure, which has generally come to be known as Starbase’s ‘wide bay,’ was first teased by CEO Elon Musk in July 2021 and will be the fourth permanent assembly ‘bay’ constructed at Starbase – currently SpaceX’s sole dedicated Starship factory. The first, now known simply as the windbreak, is a triangular bay built in 2019 that is mostly unused but occasionally supports work on Starship nose assembly. Next, SpaceX built a larger ‘mid bay’ in the first quarter of 2020, out of which every Starship prototype and test tank since SN3 has been built.
A few months after the midbay was finished, SpaceX began constructing an even larger ‘high bay’ around 81 meters (265 ft) tall and 30 by 25 meters (100 by 80 ft) wide – about twice as tall and with twice the area, in other words. While the midbay was specifically optimized for assembling one or two Starship tank sections at a time, the high bay was designed to be large enough to fully assemble one Super Heavy booster (69m/225ft tall) and stack a Starship tank and nose section (50m/165ft tall) at the same time. The goal of SpaceX’s new ‘wide bay’ may be even loftier still.
The first few ‘wide bay’ beams were erected on October 22nd. (Oct 28, NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
Though SpaceX’s pace of Starship and Super Heavy assembly and processing appears to have slowed down significantly in the last few months, the company has still proven with Starships SN4-6, SN8-SN11, and SN15-16 that it can build large numbers of suborbital prototypes at the frankly incredible pace of 1-2 per month. With Super Heavy BN1, BN3, and BN3, SpaceX – to a lesser degree – has also demonstrated respectable booster prototype production, though none have flown and only one has completed any testing.
Nonetheless, as SpaceX works to complete Starship S21 and Super Heavy B5 and prepares to begin assembling S22 and B6 while Ship 20 and Booster 4 still sit – largely untested – at the launch site, Starbase’s existing production capabilities are already starting to outstretch its two main assembly bays. In other words, the purpose of SpaceX’s new ‘wide bay’ is almost certainly to double, triple, or even quadruple Starbase’s maximum vehicle production rate.
This is how the WIDE bay might look once complete pic.twitter.com/dPLnGoQuUs
— RGV Aerial Photography (@RGVaerialphotos) October 20, 2021
The wide bay’s dimensions have yet to be officially confirmed but based on aerial views of its foundation, it will measure roughly 50m (~165′) wide, 35m (~115′) deep, and 90-100m (~300-330′) tall, giving it more than twice as much usable floor space as the high bay. In theory, the high bay has enough space for SpaceX to stack 3-4 four Starship or Super Heavy tank sections at once. With more than twice the floor space, the wide bay should singlehandedly allow SpaceX to assemble 3-4 Super Heavy boosters, 4-8 Starships, or 2-3 boosters and 2-3 Starships at once.
🚀Starbase, Tx Build Site 2 year difference (almost 3)Top Image: January 2019Bottom Image: October 2021 pic.twitter.com/idtxQfPBv3
— RGV Aerial Photography (@RGVaerialphotos) October 22, 2021
At the absolute minimum, once fully outfitted, that means it could roughly triple the number of boosters or ships Starbase can fully assemble each month. Pictured below, there’s also a small but not insignificant amount of evidence (the small rectangles left of the wide bay foundation, bottom right, in the photo above) that SpaceX is completing additional foundation work that could double the wide bay’s floor space yet again. The second 50x35m structure those foundations seem to outline could be a wider midbay, a few-story ring assembly floor to augment Starbase’s tents, a 50x70m ‘high bay,’ or simply a more permanent space for general offices, workshops, storage, and other miscellaneous uses.
Stay tuned for updates on the massive structure’s construction.
SpaceX begins assembling Starbase’s biggest manufacturing building yet
Tesla shares rare look inside Giga Shanghai’s automated paint shop
(Credit: JayinShanghai/YouTube)
Tesla Giga Shanghai gave a brief inside look of its paint shop in a recently released video. The video reveals Tesla’s focus on paint, which has increased since talk about Giga Berlin’s advanced paint shop started.
Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai’s paint shop video shows the step-by-step automated painting process that all MIC Tesla vehicles go through before deliveries. The clip shows that most of the painting process is done with robots and minimum human intervention.
The brief video also showed some of the different color options available to Tesla customers receiving MIC vehicles. The footage included Tesla China’s Deep Sea Blue, China Red, Pearl White, and Pure Black color options. Giga Shanghai also offers a Cold Light Silver paint option. Tesla China’s free paint option is Pure Black, while the rest of the colors are available for CN¥8,000 ($1,250).
Inside Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai – Insane Paint ShopOfficial video from Tesla ChinaFull video here: https://t.co/5V4AlkBz43#Tesla #Gigafactory #Shanghai #PaintShop $TSLA @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/z1q3smKrfT
— Jay in Shanghai
(@JayinShanghai) November 1, 2021
Interestingly enough, the Tesla App update 4.2.1 teased the paint options for Giga Berlin last month. The shades were similar to the ones seen in the Tesla China video. Based on the source code of the Tesla app, Giga Berlin’s three new color options are Deep Crimson Multicoat, Abyss Blue Multicoat, and Mercury Silver Metallic. In the past, Elon Musk admitted that Tesla Germany’s Crimson paint has become his favorite.
Musk has excitedly teased Giga Berlin’s advanced paint shop in the months following Tesla’s announcement of the gigafactory in Germany.
“Giga Berlin will have world’s most advanced paint shop, with more layers of stunning colors that subtly change with curvature,” Musk tweeted in April 2020.
Tesla partnered with Geico Taikisha for Giga Berlin’s next-gen paint shop. The company plans to retrofit Giga Shanghai with Geico Taikisha machines once the technology has been proven at Giga Berlin. It is unclear if the recently posted Giga Shanghai video shows its paint shop after the retrofit.
Recently, Brandenburg’s State Office for the Environment granted Tesla an early permit to fully paint 250 car bodies over 60 days. A picture of a painted Tesla Giga Berlin vehicle has already surfaced online. The Tesla car looked to be painted in Giga Berlin’s Deep Crimson Multicoat option.
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First tests of non-Tesla Supercharger sessions in the Netherlands shared online
(Credit: Inse van houts/YouTube)
Tesla officially opened its Supercharger Network to non-Tesla EV owners in the Netherlands on November 1st. Non-Tesla EV owners have already started sharing their experiences with the Supercharger Network online.
Hyundai Ioniq owner Inse van houts shared his experience at a Tesla Supercharger station at Tilburg, the wool capital of the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant. He gets footage of Tesla employees test charging a Porsche Taycan at the station, showing the company’s efforts to provide service to all EVs.
It works! Charging the Ford Mach-e on a Tesla Supercharger in Naarden pic.twitter.com/QScMjxlwAy
— Luc (@lucbronk) November 1, 2021
Then the EV owner starts charging his 2017 Hyundai Ioniq 2 using the Tesla app. After opening the app and connecting his vehicle, he discussed Tesla’s charging rates, including the company’s membership program.
Non-Tesla owners who join the program will be charged the same charging rates as Tesla owners. The Ioniq 2 owner learns that the membership program will be €13 ($15) a month. The charging membership reveals Tesla’s ever-growing revenue opportunities.
“The good thing about the membership is you can cancel it monthly, like basically, you can get a membership just to go on holiday and then afterward you can cancel it. It’sIt’s crazy good,” the Ioniq 2 owner stated.
Just charged with the @PolestarCars Polestar 2 on the @Tesla @TeslaCharging in Breukelen the Netherlands. Good experience, charging starts within 10 seconds, max charging rate 46 kW (cold battery; 62% soc). Only cable length will be a challange for non-Tesla EVs! pic.twitter.com/k3mcmYlKbE
— Reijer Kok (@ReijerKok) November 1, 2021
The Ioniq 2 owner shares that the only issue with charging at the Tesla station is the adapter, which does not connect perfectly with his car because of the charging port’s design. However, his vehicle does complete a charging session with no issues. In its announcement, Tesla notes that EV owners have 2 minutes to connect the charging cable to their cars after selecting the charting stall number in the app. The company also stated that only EVs with CCS connections could use Superchargers during the pilot stage.
Earlier this year, Elon Musk shared that Europe, China, and most parts of the world use the same connector, so opening the Supercharger Network would be “fairly easy to do.” Recent videos, like the one discussed above, and pictures reveal that is pretty much the case with the open Supercharger Network in the Netherlands. Musk said that an adapter would be needed for EVs in North America.
“So we developed our own connector, which in my opinion actually the best connector. It’sIt’s small and light and looks good. So an adapter is needed to work for EVs in North America. But people could buy this adapter. And we anticipate having it available at the Superchargers as well if people don’t sort of steal them or something,” he said.
Check out Telsa’s open Supercharger stations in the Netherlands below!
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Rivian IPO set to launch next week with initial valuation of over $60 billion
Credit: RJ Scaringe
Rivian is set to launch its initial public offering next week with a proposed valuation of just over $60 billion, according to a new report.
Rivian will disclose its target valuation in an updated regulatory filing later today, according to The Wall Street Journal. Rivian will begin pitching introductory shares to investors sometime tomorrow, with the automaker beginning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market next week under its symbol, RIVN.
Rivian confidentially filed for its IPO in late September, where it was aiming for an initial valuation of at least $80 billion. This would have put it above General Motors as the sixth-most valuable automaker globally. However, the company also sought out a $70 billion IPO in May.
Initial projections in September seemed to indicate that Rivian would be looking toward an IPO sometime around November, but closer to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Rivian is backed by numerous high-profile and high-valuation companies, including Amazon, who was revealed to have a 20% stake in the automaker after a 10-Q document from the e-commerce giant detailed exactly how much of the automaker Amazon owned. “As of December 31, 2020 and September 30, 2021, equity investments not accounted for under the equity-method and without readily determinable fair values, including preferred stock of Rivian Automotive, Inc. representing an approximately 20% ownership interest, had a carrying value of $2.7 billion and $3.8 billion, and are recorded within “Other assets” on our consolidated balance sheets with adjustments recognized in “Other income (expense), net” on our consolidated statements of operations,” Amazon wrote in the 10-Q filing.
Additionally, companies like Ford and Cox Automotive have also contributed to several of the company’s investment rounds. The company has raised over $10.5 billion from investors since welcoming private investments in 2019.
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