Tesla's Gigafactory Starts Making Batteries In Nevada

[Babyfacemagee]

At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Panasonic, Tesla's partner in the creation of the lithium ion batteries that will power Tesla's Model 3 electric autos announced that production had begun inside Tesla's giant Nevada Gigafactory.  The factory is expected to product 35GWh per year of battery cells by 2018, which is about as much as the rest of the world's battery capacity...combined. While at first the batteries will be used in Tesla's Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 for use as energy storage in homes, beginning in mid-2017 the factory will also begin making the lithium cells to be used in the Model 3 auto.

The Gigafactory is the biggest battery making facility of its kind in the world and at maximum capacity will be able to pump out most of the batteries needed to power Tesla's projected 500,000 cars per year production volume.  Currently the gigafactory is only 30% completed and occupies 1.9 million square feet but it is rapidly being built out and should be finished during 2017.  Interestingly, Panasonic has another power venture with Tesla.  In October they announced they will team up to create photovoltaic cells for solar panels in New York.