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A Look Inside Tesla's $5 Billion Gigafactory (cnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the industry-changing dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: A joint effort between Tesla and Panasonic, the Gigafactory is a $5 billion project that will create the world's premier battery manufacturing facility. The Gigafactory will not only be physically larger than any other cell-packing plant on the planet, it'll produce more batteries than the entire industry did back in 2013. That's a lot of batteries, enough to meet Tesla's 500,000-per-year manufacturing goals -- and potentially even more. When completed, the factory will cover five million square feet of the desert floor just outside of Reno, Nevada. Right now, the uncompleted but already-operational factory sits on 800,000 square feet. Over the next four years the building will grow and grow again, swelling to its full size while production dials up simultaneously. The roof will be covered in solar panels, with the goal of producing enough electricity to power the entire thing. Tesla is already assembling Powerwall units here, but the first Model 3 battery packs are expected to roll off the line by the middle of next year. From there, Tesla will have to scale quickly to meet the company's Model 3 production goals for 2018. And, once the company does, the cost savings will begin. The "Tesla Gigafactory Tour" video can also be viewed on YouTube via Roadshow.

7 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Makes me feel in a mix a Blade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...now, witness the power of thus fully armed and operational manufacturing facility!..

  2. Solar panels are nice, but what about storage? by penguinoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    The roof will be covered in solar panels, with the goal of producing enough electricity to power the entire thing.

    Solar panels are nice, but how will they store the power for when the sun don't shine?

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    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    1. Re: Solar panels are nice, but what about storage? by nsuccorso · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, how the hell are they going to store power at a massive high-capacity battery factory?

    2. Re: Solar panels are nice, but what about storage? by Gordo_1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, one thought is that they could put the building on a huge hydraulic lift and in this way store solar energy as potential energy, then slowly drop the building to release that energy post-daylight. This has the added advantage of forcing workers to stay inside rolling lithium until the wee hours of the morning when, presumably, the floor reaches ground level.

    3. Re: Solar panels are nice, but what about storage? by serbanp · · Score: 4, Informative

      The unbelievably loud sound you just heard was the 140dB whoosh passing over your head. Don't fret though, you're not alone, it appears that some retards with mod points were startled by the sound too...

  3. Re:A lot of eggs by Chuq · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just 30 minutes ago, Elon was speaking at the opening party and said that long term there would be a gigafactory of this scale on every continent, mentioning Europe and Asia (specifically China) by name as the planned locations for the next factories.

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    - Chuq
  4. Re: A lot of eggs by quenda · · Score: 3, Informative

    Coal-fired power stations are sometimes built near the mines, and sometimes on the other side of the world.
    Lithium ore is worth a hundred times as much as coal per tonne, so freight costs for extra distance is not a big deal.
    Where are the ore refineries? (not that it matters much)