Last week we told you about the first pieces of the 9,000 ton IDRA Giga Press that will be used to build the Cybertruck body arriving at Giga Texas. Now Tesla has taken another big step towards the start of Cybertruck production this week with the arrival of dozens of Kuka robots at Giga Texas.
If you are unfamiliar with Kuka robots, these are the big red and orange machines that you have probably seen in photos and videos from Tesla’s other factories. The robots are used to put together various parts onto the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y on their respective production lines at Fremont, Giga Texas, Giga Shanghai, and Giga Berlin. You can see them in action in this drone video from Giga Berlin below.
With just a few days left in 2022 and the promise of the start of Cybertruck production in mid-2023, Tesla has just taken delivery of dozens of these robots at Giga Texas.
According to a bill of landing shared by Greggertruck on Twitter (@greggertruck), the Kuka robots were sent from Germany in 9 different shipments. Each shipment ranges in weight from 3,522kgs to 12,669kgs (7,764lbs to 27,930lbs) with anywhere from 3 to 10 robots in each. The bill of landing shows they arrived at Giga Texas on December 18, 2022.
Add it all up and Tesla now has 66 new Kuka production line robots to install at Giga Texas. While there is nothing on the documents to confirm these are in fact for Cybertruck production, all the evidence points to this being the case.
Model Y production is still ramping at Giga Texas, so there should be no need for additional robots to help grow output of Model Y at the factory. Additionally, as we mentioned Tesla should begin assembling the Cybertruck Giga Press very soon, and Tesla will then need these robots to take those massive castings and put together a Cybertruck.
Tesla has also published numerous job postings related to Cybertruck production, including one for a Robotics Engineer and a Senior Equipment Engineer Robotics.
As of the most recent update from Tesla, Cybertruck production is still slated to begin in mid-2023. Despite all these signs that Tesla is on track with that schedule and gearing up to start production, we still haven’t seen the final production version of the Cybertruck, even though Elon Musk said the design was finalized months ago.
Hopefully we will get more information, including a first look at the final version of the Cybertruck during the Q4 2022 and full year earnings call next month.
Leaked photo shows Tesla Cybertruck frame for the first time [Update]
