Tesla has crossed another significant manufacturing milestone. As caught by Electrek, the automaker shared on Saturday that its Texas Gigafactory recently produced its ten thousandth Model Y SUV. The achievement could be good news for those hoping to buy a Cybertruck next year. Tesla plans to build the pickup truck primarily in Texas. The automaker initially expected to begin volume production in 2021 but then delayed the Cybertruck to 2022 and then 2023.
10,000 Model Ys built at Giga Texas to date pic.twitter.com/4cOlnpCRa0
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 17, 2022
According to multiple reports, one of the reasons Tesla’s next EV hasn’t arrived yet is due to a bottleneck related to the company’s next-generation 4680 battery cells. In 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the technology would lead to electric vehicles that cost less than cars with combustion engines. At that point, however, Tesla and battery partner Panasonic had yet to produce the cells at scale, and it was only this past June that they looked ready for a production surge.
That’s why the Model Y milestone is interesting. In April, Tesla began selling a new variant of the SUV that features 4680 battery cells. It can travel 279 miles on a single charge and starts at $59,990. On Saturday, Tesla didn’t say how many of the new Standard Range AWD variants it has produced to date. However, Electrek estimates the Texas Gigafactory is currently manufacturing more than 1,000 Model Y vehicles every week and that the plant is likely on track to begin making 2,000 units every seven days.