Tesla Supercharger Factory, FSD European Expansion

This video highlights Tesla's latest production processes, technological advancements, and market expansion.

This signals Tesla's establishment of a significant production base in the region, with the official Tesla account stating, “Superchargers are manufactured in Buffalo, NY. Thank you to our amazing employees.”

They support the smooth operation of Superchargers, and Craig Broadfurher, Senior Manager of Gigafactory Operations, also participates in the production process. Through these production activities, Tesla is creating new jobs in the Buffalo region.

The released video meticulously details how workers precisely assemble complex wiring and components inside the Supercharger cabinet. Eight-frame automated robots are deployed in this process to support efficient production, showcasing the technology-intensive efforts aimed at producing high-quality Superchargers.

He remarked, "Tesla Superchargers are built in New York. Just returned from visiting the Supercharger production line at Giga New York. The folding unit Superchargers are increasing. The team there is truly excellent. They take pride in what they build." Musk personally visited the Supercharger production line at Giga New York, observing the increasing trend of folding unit Superchargers, and expressed satisfaction with the employees' enjoyable work environment.

Tesla Europe, Middle East & Africa official account announced on September 8, KST morning, that Tesla FSD (Supervised) received national approval in Slovenia. As a result, Slovenia has become the sixth country in the European Union to adopt FSD, and Tesla stated that deployment is expected to begin soon. Tesla vehicle owners with Hardware 4 will be able to use FSD (Supervised) immediately.

The first approval was granted to the Netherlands on April 10, followed by Lithuania (May 20), Estonia (May 29), Denmark (June 9), and Belgium (June 10). The Netherlands expanded FSD application through an exception after 18 months of verification since its initial approval, indicating a gradual spread of FSD within Europe.

Most Tesla vehicles operating on Korean roads are Hardware 4 Model 3 and Model Y models produced at the Shanghai Gigafactory. Although these vehicles are equipped with the cameras and computers necessary for FSD (Supervised), they cannot use FSD due to software being locked. Despite parliamentary petitions and continuous requests from the community, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport only issues brief statements through the media every few months without direct communication, which exacerbates the relative deprivation felt by Korean owners due to function restrictions based on production location.

This figure surpasses 20 million km in May, 50 million km on July 14, and 65 million km at the end of July. Notably, the latter 50 million km accumulated in just 43 days, recording an average of 1.16 million km per day, indicating a rapid increase in FSD usage.

Furthermore, automatic emergency braking occurred 14.9 times less, hard acceleration 8.8 times less, hard braking 7.3 times less, and steering wheel interventions 8 times less, according to Tesla.

The number of comparison countries also expanded to five. On highways, there were 0 collisions over 41.9 million km, and off highways, 6 collisions occurred over 23.8 million km. Additionally, automatic emergency braking decreased by 13.4 times, hard acceleration by 9.2 times, hard braking by 7.1 times, and sharp steering by 7.6 times.

With Slovenia's FSD (Supervised) approval, FSD services are now available in 6 out of 27 European Union countries. This covers approximately 9.4% of the total EU population. For full European Union approval, a minimum of 15 member states' approval and coverage of over 65% of the EU population are required.

One Tesla owner stated, “Thank you to the entire Tesla team for pushing full self-driving forward and persistently navigating the endless European bureaucracy.” This suggests a high appreciation for Tesla's efforts to overcome complex European regulatory environments and expand FSD services by gaining safety recognition.

Despite these three locations being extreme remote areas without wired communication networks, the teams were able to communicate in real-time via FaceTime. The Amazon team even asked Google Gemini how to make mattresses and rafts, receiving assistance, proving a significant improvement in real-time information access through Starlink. Previous satellite phones were limited to short voice exchanges or frequent disconnections.

Installation is simple, described as: “No wires, no base stations, but you have internet. Quick to install. Just unfold the dish, plug it in, as long as you can see the sky.” Especially, Starlink Mini's light weight of 1.1kg and low power consumption of 25-40W allow it to run on a portable battery, making it highly mobile and versatile.

Existing satellite internet used geostationary satellites at an altitude of approximately 35,000 km, resulting in long signal delay times for round trips. This caused difficulties with video calls, online gaming, and real-time communication. In contrast, Starlink satellites are deployed in low-Earth orbit, primarily at an altitude of about 550 km, which is approximately 70 times closer to Earth than geostationary satellites. Thanks to this low orbit, signal delays are minimal, enabling real-time video calls like FaceTime even between the Amazon and Antarctica.

To deploy over 10,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, reducing launch costs was essential. SpaceX successfully developed Falcon 9 rocket reusability technology to achieve this. This enabled the large-scale deployment of Starlink satellites into orbit. Starting with eastern launch pads, Starlink launches began transitioning to Starship. When Starship is fully operational, it is expected to upgrade to V3 satellites, significantly increasing Starlink's bandwidth.

The YouTuber released a video of a race across three continents simultaneously, demonstrating the power of Starlink technology through real-world use cases. This strategy allows Starlink to effectively communicate the excellence and utility of its technology to a broad audience without direct advertising.