This past Thursday was a day I’ll remember for a very long time to come. I was lucky enough to be chosen in a lottery to attend the 2025 Tesla Shareholder Meeting at Tesla’s Giga Texas headquarters in Austin.
I’ve been a fan of both the company and its mission and products since nearly the beginning and even more since I bought my Model 3 in 2022.
I’ve spent more than a decade following the company’s ups, downs, challenges, political twists and turns, and breakthroughs but nothing prepared me for seeing it all in person.
There were a few hundred of us invited for the event and we began gathering in the parking lot of Tesla’s Giga Factory at around 10am. The first person I met was Alexandra Merz, followed by several YouTube influencers I’d been watching for years in the first half-hour after arrival.
Around 10:30 we were herded through extensive security, scanned, had our credentials checked, were issued our passes, and then boarded a fleet of buses that took us to the front of Tesla’s Texas factory, which also serves at the company’s global headquarters.
To say Giga Texas is massive is an understatement, the factory spans 2,500 acres of land and has a floor area of over 10 million square feet. Tesla currently produces the Model Y and the CyberTruck in this factory and will next year will begin manufacturing the CyberCab and Optimus robot in this location as well.
We were led on a tour of the factory before the meeting but there was a strict "no photo" policy so, unfortunately, I have no images of the manufacturing facility to share. However, I can tell you that stepping inside the machine that makes the machines was--I kid you not--like walking through a star gate to the year 2125. The facility was a behemoth--extremely clean, efficient, filled with light, and the overall vibe there seemed positive and relaxed.
We walked the assembly lines where they made the CyberTruck and got to experience every stage of the manufacturing process. I have a new appreciation of the engineering behind the CyberTruck. Say what you will about its looks, when you learn how technologically advanced the vehicle is from an engineering perspective it’s difficult not to be impressed.
We also saw a display of the CyberCab’s internal electrical wires and computer hardware. Like the CyberTruck, the CyberCab vehicle employs Tesla’s new 48v architecture which eliminates roughly 70% of the wires in each unit. This vehicle will be produced more like a piece of consumer electronics than a car. Four separate teams will be responsible for assembling their own piece of the CyberCab and then the four pieces will be joined together to complete the car. Due to this new “unboxed” assembly process, beginning next year, the factory will be able to make a CyberCab every 10 seconds.
As we were touring the factory we saw brand new Model Y’s driving themselves off the assembly line and out of the factory at a rate of one every 33 seconds.
In front of the corporate offices Tesla displayed each of their vehicles.
The CyberCab stood out as the most impressive vehicle I saw, from a design perspective. Soon we'll be seeing thousands of these driving around, autonomously, on the city streets.
There were several food trucks scattered about for attendees to choose from for lunch. It was a tough choice but I picked the brisket burger at Lono’s Southern Cooking and wasn’t at all disappointed. If you're ever in the Austin area I'd recommend you look them up.
I had just enough time to grab this quick lunch before the doors opened for the shareholder meeting at 3pm. I also met Tesla's Chief Designer, Franz von Holzhausen just before the meeting began--he was very gracious and down-to-Earth. In my next post I'll be highlighting the actual shareholder meeting itself.
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
So glad you got there and had no flight issue Eric! It sounds amazing. Pity your brother could not go with you.
Thank you! Yes, I felt bad that he couldn't experience it too. It was such an important milestone for the company and it was fun to celebrate it with them. My flight home was only delayed by 30min, thankfully. I was prepared to rent a car and drive home if I had to but that would have taken a solid two days of driving.
Thank goodness you did not have to do that!
That is pretty cool! I've been around some of the auto factories here in Michigan and it is pretty impressive. They definitely take up a lot of space, so I can imagine what Tesla is like.
The sheer scale is difficult to wrap your head around. There was one cage draped in black cloth we passed during the tour and our guide hinted that it was something "big" that hadn't been released yet. I guess we'll discover what that was in due time.
Oooh, exciting! :)
I guess you will be sharing if the meeting made you more confident in Tesla future as a shareholder in the next post and if you actually got to meet the Trillion Dollar man himself :)
Yes! The next post will be all about the meeting.
I am very happy that you enjoyed this experience, and every time I see a friend from the @hive ecosystem succeed beyond this platform, it makes me very happy and I feel part of that success. Congratulations, brother.
Happy Sunday. Cheers and best regards.
Thank you @tonyes! I really appreciate it. Have a wonderful Sunday!
I can just imagine you like a kid in a toy store! It's a shame your brother couldn't come with you—what a missed opportunity—but I imagine these events happen every year, so hopefully you'll be able to experience it together. I think visiting these “futuristic” spaces gives you a firsthand opportunity to describe upcoming, more realistic stories about Tesla and Elon. I read about how a $1 billion compensation package was approved for Elon. I think that approval reinforces confidence. I also saw his viral dance and that of the Optimus robot. If it's clear from social media that it's an otherworldly experience, I can't imagine experiencing it live and in person. Hugs and have a nice Sunday.
Oh, I was! : ) I feel bad that he missed it too. It was such a monumental meeting. Yes, I'll enter the lottery again next year. It'd be nice to be chosen again but from what I understand getting chosen twice is unlikely. I'm hearing the venue will probably change and it won't be at the factory after this year, so no more factory tours.
I think the 1 trillion dollar pay package will be a good thing for shareholders and for the world. Most of what the media is reporting about it is false. Elon hasn't taken a dime in salary since the company began in 2008. So some of this would be considered back pay, also to get any of the $1T he'll have to steer the company to meet some insanely aggressive goals over the next ten years. So even if the goals are met he won't get paid until 2035, after he's grown the company by 5-10x from what it is today. I can't believe the media can get away with what they're reporting about it and how easily people are being deceived by the false reporting. It's a wonderful time to buy TSLA stock, that's for sure.
I'll definitely remember this experience for the rest of my days! Thank you Nancy and I hope you're having a great weekend. It was 90 in Austin and I woke up to 25 degrees this morning. : (
Appreciate your firsthand account! How lucky that you were able to attend. Multiple Q&A participants asked for a larger venue similar to the annual Berkshire Hathaway meetings
Thank you! Yes, I'm so grateful to have been chosen. I think that change will happen next year and it'll be held in a bigger venue. The one concern is security. Elon had secret service level security surrounding him but a larger venue would make it far less safe.
This company has changed the way people think about electric vehicles. Earlier, people did not like electric vehicles, but now we are seeing that every person wants to buy this car and it has become their dream car.
Yes, the tide is turning!
A location that seems to transport you into the future has to be motivating. I also enjoy learning about environments that encourage positivity and creativity.
I did walk away with a brighter view of the future. If Elon gets his wish the future will be one of abundance for all.
That's an experience of a lifetime, the shareholder meeting. It afforded you the opportunity to see select products of the company you'd admired for years up close. Tesla is an impressive company and being a shareholder is something to be proud of. Thanks for sharing the experience.
Thanks for reading!
I can only imagine how exciting it must have been to see Giga Texas and all the new innovations up close. Tesla’s progress is truly inspiring , can’t wait to hear more about what was shared at the meeting.
It was a once in a lifetime experience, for sure. Thanks!
#hive #posh
WOW!!!! You saw some of our future in cars, how awesome! To see how they are made and how fast they come off the floor amazes me.