A stripped down Model S. Tesla batteries will be made at a factory site outside of Reno.
Although the Gigafactory—a $5 billion battery factory built by Tesla and Panasonic in northern Nevada—is only 14 percent complete, by all accounts it is enormous. Speaking to a handful of press on the grounds of the new facility, which began to pump out Powerwall batteries earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Tesla CTO J.B. Straubel, and Panasonic Executive Vice President Yoshihiko Yamada addressed new accelerated goals for auto and storage battery production.
Notably, Musk claimed that Tesla and Panasonic could potentially triple the projected battery output for the factory, delivering up to 150 gigawatt hours of storage per year by 2020. According to Fortune, Straubel told the audience that Tesla is hoping to deliver 35 gigawatt hours of auto and stationary batteries by 2018. The Tesla executives said their confidence in the increased battery production volume stems from logistical changes made to the layout of the Gigafactory.
“The factory itself is a product,” Musk told USA Today. “It’s the machine that builds the machines and demands more problem solving than the product it makes.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Elon Musk and J.B. Straubel talk batteries at the new Gigafactory