According to an article in my newspaper today, written by Rex Crum of the Bay Area News Group, the $5 billion Tesla Motors Gigafactory has started to spit out lithium batteries. These first cells are destined for use in Tesla's Powerwall 2 home battery storage device. By the second quarter of this year, Tesla expects the Gigafactory to be cranking out batteries for its Model 3 EV. (Just don't expect any of these batteries to be available to you, though.
) The factory currently encloses 1.9 million SF and it will eventually reach 4.9 million SF. But Tesla has plans to eventually make the factory even larger, about 16 million square feet, which will make it the largest building in the world. When fully operational by 2018 it will build 35 gigawatt-hours a year of lithium-ion battery cells, nearly as much as is produced in the rest of the world combined. The factory currently employs 2000 people and intends on having a staff of 6,500 by next year.
