Tesla continues to prepare the commercial launch of its much-anticipated Cybertruck all-electric pickup. A photo posted by eagle-eyed Austin, TX, Gigafactory enthusiast Joe Tegtmeyer on his Twitter account showed what appeared to be a big part of the second 9,000-ton Giga Press that set sail from Italy’s IDRA Group about two months ago, becoming the last big stamping component to be moved to Tesla’s Stamping 2 facility at the Texas factory.
As seen in the image, the soon-to-be-assembled die-casting machine was spotted just outside the new Cybertruck production area, from where it will be transported inside and put to good use, stamping parts for the truck’s body panels.
While similar, this is probably not the same machine as the first Giga Press, which is reportedly responsible for casting the pickup’s internal frame. Instead, this machine will likely be used in the same way many other carmakers use presses: feeding them flat sheets of metal that are stamped to create door panels, roof structures and other body components.
Tesla is already assembling Cybertruck prototypes at a slow pace in Texas, but with customer deliveries expected to start in September, the EV maker is apparently pulling all the stops to stay true to its previous statement it will begin mass production of the much-anticipated vehicle later this year.
There have been more public sightings of Cybertruck prototypes, including one that reportedly got stuck in the Texas mud near the company’s upcoming lithium refinery close to Corpus Christi.
Another hint mass production is closer than ever came in the form of an official raffle organized by Tesla, in which anyone with 500 credits in the brand’s smartphone app can enter to win one of the first finished Cybertrucks.
The zero-emissions full-size truck was unveiled in 2019 and production was initially scheduled to start in late 2021, but a series of delays caused by the global pandemic and a subsequent shortage of computer chips led the company to move the start of production to the end of 2023.
Abby Andrews