Yesterday was a big day at Tesla Gigafactory Berlin as the automaker arranged the county fair and factory tour for the residents of Berlin and Brandenburg. The event was named Giga-Fest by Tesla and at least half of it did look like a festival.
Aside from the festivities at the event, Tesla also showcased the internal and external parts of the Model Y electric SUV that will be built in Giga Berlin. Tesla Model Ys produced at Giga Berlin will be much different from the ones currently being produced at Giga Shanghai and the Fremont factory in various ways.
The major differences are the use of the 4680 form factor battery cells, the structural battery pack that Tesla introduced at Battery Day, the single-piece front underbody mega casting, and the latest addition of Matrix LED headlights.
Since thousands of Berlin residents and Tesla enthusiasts from Germany attended the Giga Fest last evening, many of them took videos and pictures of the event and the new Model Y developments that Tesla displayed inside the factory.
A few of these Tesla enthusiasts happily allowed us to post these pics on our website and also provided additional information they received from on-site engineers.
Related: Tesla delivers first Giga Berlin-made Model Ys, Elon Musk dances
Structural Battery and Single-Piece Front and Rear Castings
Gigafactory Berlin will be the first Tesla manufacturing facility to produce a car with a structural battery pack. According to the Battery Day presentation last year, a structural battery pack integration to the car body results in an up to 14% range increase, 10% mass reduction, and eliminates 370 parts from production.
Tesla has unveiled the structural battery for the first time in physical form along with the rear and front single-piece underbody castings. Here’s how this setup looks like without the body frame on it.
The display board behind this setup reads as:
Making the car go further
We combine in-house cells to create one of the most advanced batteries in the world. It is not only energy storage but also a significant structural part of the car body.
The seats of the Model Y cars produced at Giga Berlin will be directly mounted on the structural battery pack. Multiple persons present at the Giga-Fest have confirmed this by asking the engineers at Giga Berlin. Adam Berg who was also present at the event talked to the engineers and confirmed this setup.
“Spoke with a host of various engineers on-site how independently confirmed. Said it was the opposite of this process where the pack is placed under the floor. The new pack is the floor,” Adam confirmed through one of his tweets.
He also posted the following picture where Tesla is demonstrating how the structural battery is going to be mated with the body frame to act as a rigid floor as well.
This is an interesting new development that Tesla has achieved with their commitment to continuous improvement cycle and engineering extraordinaire.
Now, let’s look at the Model Y single-piece front underbody casting that again saves Tesla production complexity and reduces a significant number of parts and weldings to create this structure.
Model Y Matrix LED Headlights
One more additional feature in the upcoming Giga Berlin-made Tesla Model Y is the fully adaptive matrix LED headlights. Tesla unveiled these lights at the Giga-Fest yesterday.
Although the Tesla Model 3 and Y cars made in the United States and China have LED projector headlights but do not have adaptive matrix LEDs.
“Yeah, headlights are precision LED, so they can be bright without blinding oncoming traffic, pedestrians & cyclists,” Elon Musk replied to the above pic in a tweet.
Because in the precision matrix LED headlights each LED can be controlled via the ECU, Tesla used these lights to project the company’s name on the wall. Paul Kelly caught this amazing footage for us (watch below).
Related: IIHS safety tests reveal two variants of Model Y headlights | Elon Musk announcest Giga Texas Giga Fest date, Model Y with 4680 cells start production
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk was also present at Giga Berlin and addressed the Giga Berlin crowd. He gave the Model Y presentation in the German language which was very well received by the local crowd.
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The 2021 Model 3 has matrix headlights (shine an LED torch through the lens and you’ll see the matrix grid), but they’re not actively controlling the matrix projector. It’s possible that Tesla don’t have enough CPU overhead to run them as designed by the OEM.
I am sure there’s more than enough CPU if they are controlling the lights with the Autopilot supercomputer. The GPU should also be enough as it’s capable of playing 3D games. It’s probably the software update that’s lacking.