More details about Tesla's Gigafactory were released today, continuing what's been a good week for Elon Musk and his car company's earnings. In short, Musk and Co. are lining up $5 billion to build a factory in one of four states to supply power for half a million electric cars.
According to the files released today, Tesla's narrowing down sites in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to supply its Fremont, Calif. factory with enough batteries to build 500,000 cars per year by 2020. That's why Tesla's says it needs a 100-200 acre site and 6,500 employees by then.
A factory is scheduled to be operational somewhere around 2017.
As many analysts, including one from Forbes, have written lately, the Gigafactory is a huge deal for Tesla. They need more battery packs to supply production in Fremont, even before future models like the Model X crossover and rumored 3-series fighter go into full production.
In addition to getting the supply it needs, Tesla estimates the Gigafactory will allow it to reduce battery pack costs per kilowatt by 30%, a big deal when they're trying to make more mainstream models.
Another possibility remains in selling these packs to other companies. Tesla projects it'll move about 35,000 cars this year, a long way from 500,000. Are they going to keep all of the Gigafactory production for themselves?
Photo: Getty Images
Tesla Wants Gigafactory To Supply Batteries For 500,000 Cars By 2020