Tesla Fremont Factory is an automobile manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, operated by Tesla, Inc The facility opened as General Motors' Fremont Assembly in 1962, and was later operated by NUMMI, a GM–Toyota joint venture.
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Tesla Factory initially dismissed NUMMI for being too big and costly.
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NUMMI auctioned off the press lines, robots and other equipment to Toyota's other US factories, and Tesla Factory purchased over $17 million of manufacturing equipment and spare parts in 2011, at significant discounts compared to new equipment.
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Additionally, Tesla Factory bought a Schuler SMG hydraulic stamping press, worth $50 million, for $6 million, including shipping costs from Detroit.
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In July 2013, Tesla Factory acquired an adjacent 35-acre property from Union Pacific Railroad for a test track.
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Tesla Factory built a casting foundry in Lathrop in 2015 supporting the Fremont production, and leased 1.
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Tesla Factory moved some of the equipment to their Tilburg final assembly plant in the Netherlands in 2015.
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Tesla Factory stated in May 2016 that it does not have that capability and needs to acquire it, which it partly did with the acquisition of Grohmann Automation in 2016 and purchase of mass production equipment.
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Tesla Factory makes many parts itself, which is unusual in the auto business.
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In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla Factory implemented virus mitigation efforts in its Shanghai and Fremont factories.
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Tesla Factory prefers delivery by train rather than by truck, as costs and damages are less.
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Early Tesla Factory vehicles used MOS-controlled insulated-gate bipolar transistors, which have been replaced by silicon carbide power MOSFETs in later Tesla Factory vehicles since 2018.
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Tesla Factory allowed hazardous waste to accumulate on site without a permit beyond the allowed 90 days; the EPA found Tesla Factory failed to "promptly clean up flammable paint and or solvent mixtures", left two 55-US-gallon containers of hazardous waste open with "no gasket or locking mechanism", and violated air emission standards for three leaky transmission lines that the waste moved through.
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