Tesla Planning Upgrades, Freeing Up Space At Fremont Due To Growth

By Steven Loveday InsideEVs

Even after opening several new factories, it seems Tesla’s goal is still to upgrade its original facility in Fremont, CA, and make more space.

There’s very little room for expansion at the Fremont factory. Perhaps it could be built up, by adding more floors or freeing up the upper floor space for better use. Tesla has also acquired some other nearby buildings and properties, but it’s clearly out of space, as it has resorted to putting up tents over the years.

There have been a number of recent filings that suggest the upgrade process at the Tesla factory is ongoing, and probably more substantial than many folks might expect.

According to Teslarati, several new filings point to Tesla continuing with improvements at the California factory and also opening up more space for manufacturing. While the automaker has plans to move forward with upgrades and tool installations on the first floor, it’s also freeing up second-floor space, near the areas where its new battery production lines are being installed.

Two filings from April 21 reveal new electrical receptacles and tools going in on the first floor. The filings also have listings for “Equipment Space Moves,” which pertain to moving things like chargers and industrial vehicles to different locations to open up more space on the factory’s second floor.

It’s not clear whether the newly available space will be used to expand the battery production operations on the second floor or add additional areas for EV production. Tesla’s Fremont factory is the company’s only factory that produces all four of its current models, the Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X.

Tesla’s other factories are heavily focused on the Model Y, though the Model 3 is also built in China.

Tesla’s battery production plans on Fremont’s second floor apply to a new battery line project underway we’ve known about for some time, in addition to a more recently revealed Cybertruck battery pack line. It’s been clear in filings that these two lines are located on the second floor, but they’re not the same.

After adding the tents (sprung structures) years ago, Tesla did talk about trying to expand the Fremont factory, but there isn’t enough space to grow much. As shared by Teslarati, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas noted after a Tesla factory tour last year:

“The plant was never designed to produce 450k units (at its peak produced ~300k units before Tesla took it over from Toyota) which was immediately apparent at the tour. Tesla does not shy away from the fact the plant is inefficiently designed with 4 assembly buildings, one of which is a tent that cars are assembled in.”

Nonetheless, Tesla appears to be doing everything it can to upgrade the space and make it workable as it continues to grow exponentially.

Ford Super Duty Roof-Crush Lawsuits Consolidated

By David A. Wood CarComplaints.com

Ford truck roof class action lawsuits are being consolidated in a Michigan federal court under the case name, In re Ford Super Duty Roof-Crush Litigation.

The jury was told the Ford Super Duty roofs were too weak, and the jury decided about 5 million 1999-2016 Ford Super Duty trucks were sold with defective roofs.

The first Ford roof class action lawsuit was filed weeks after the $1.7 billion jury verdict in the Hill case, and now those class actions will be consolidated into one.

In October 2022, Judge Paul Borman consolidated Beck v. Ford with a related case called Rhodes v. Ford.

Auto Repair Shop Opens in The Dalles, OR, With a Little Help from a Friend

Jamie Parke said he first started working on vehicles with his dad Jerry at his shop in Vancouver, WA. Parke was 4 years old.

“I’ve been doing this forever,” he said on April 12, noting he and Tammerack Knopf just replaced a transmission on a Scion at his new shop.

Vancouver but eventually ended up laying down roots here to be close to family.

In the past several years, he has worked at The Dalles Auto Sales and Point S Tires, he said.

You can typically get a car in for a check up or diagnosis within a day or two currently, he said.

Class action attorneys began filing Ford truck roof lawsuits following a $1.7 billion jury verdict against Ford in the wrongful deaths of Melvin Hill, 74, and his wife, Voncile Hill, 62.

The deaths occurred in a 2014 Georgia rollover crash of a 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck.

The crash was allegedly caused by a blown tire installed by a Pep Boys service center, which installed the wrong size tire.

The latest action saw Judge F. Kay Behm consolidate Ryan Scott v. Ford, Steven Beck v. Ford, and Curtis Bright v. Ford into the single class action lawsuit, In re Ford Super Duty Roof-Crush Litigation.

The plaintiffs will file a consolidated Ford truck roof class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of Michigan.

A separate wrongful death Ford truck roof lawsuit was recently dismissed in the death of 2001 Ford F-350 driver Mikyley

Rae Reitz

The 38-year-old opened Parke Auto Repair LLC at 2937 E. Second St. in The Dalles, OR, earlier this year, striking out on his own after friend Rod Huante helped him out with some capital. It’s across the street from Big Jim’s.

Parke said they work on all makes and models and are able to diagnose problems and make repairs. Some of his services include tune-ups, brakes, clutch replacements engine swaps and transmission replacements.

“We work on just about everything,” he said.

Parke, who moved to The Dalles when he was 9, said he had jumped between The Dalles and

And how do you find the problem with a vehicle?

“Scanners and listening,” Parke said.

You have a stethoscope?

“I do have one hanging right over there,” he said, noting a stethoscope pressed to the engine block can reveal all sorts of things such as a bad piston rod or valve.

Parke Auto Repair is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 541-980-7560.