TL;DR: Tesla is killing off the Model S and X lines in Fremont to speed-run a brand new Optimus robot factory, but Elon admits early production will be a slog.
Tesla is moving fast and breaking its oldest car lines. Starting in May, they’re completely tearing down the 14-year-old Model S and X production lines in Fremont. What’s taking their place? A massive, brand-new manufacturing hub for the Optimus humanoid robot.
Elon Musk wants the new line running by late July or August. That’s a wildly aggressive four-month teardown and rebuild. But here’s the reality check: Musk admitted initial production will be brutally slow.
Optimus has over 10,000 unique parts. And as Musk put it on the Q1 earnings call, the entire line will move only as fast as the “least lucky, slowest, dumbest part.” They’re not building a car with a mature supply chain anymore. They’re making a humanoid from scratch.
So, forget the old promises of 10,000 robots by 2025. Right now, exactly zero Optimus units are doing real work in Tesla factories. We won’t even see the Gen 3 reveal until mid-year because Tesla claims competitors are ripping off their designs frame-by-frame.
Tesla knows how to scale. The real question is whether they can get the robot to actually do the dishes.