For decades, the title of “largest building” in the world by volume has belonged to the same owner: Boeing. Their factory in Everett, Washington employs more than 30,000 skilled workers, producing airliners from start to finish on vast assembly lines that buzz around the clock. That Boeing’s manufacturing colossus has remained the world’s largest for so long should come as no surprise; building airplanes is literally big business. But if all goes to plan, Everett will have a challenger in the [incredibly] appropriately named city of Sparks, Nevada-where one of the world’s most notorious billionaires is making a historic bet on the future.
To say that Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 will produce lithium batteries is an understatement. CEO Elon Musk’s plan for the massive plant is to produce three times the current global output of lithium batteries. By bringing battery production inhouse, Tesla is looking to leverage economies of scale to reduce cost, spark giant growth in the electric vehicle market, and potentially change how we think about cars.
Until recently, Tesla’s focus has been on producing high-end, luxury sports cars, playing on techie cachet and an early-adopter mindset to move product. While Tesla’s offerings have been critical darlings, they have not yet challenged the core of the car manufacturing market-until now. Tesla’s next step is to go very big and broad, increasing overall production by more than fifteen-fold. At the heart of this strategy is the introduction of Tesla’s Model 3. Priced significantly lower than its predecessors [at $35,000] the car of the future has already been pre-ordered by more than 370,000 people [who have all paid $1,000 for the privilege]-even though the Model 3 won’t start shipping until late 2017. But the Model 3 cannot be feasible unless Tesla can reduce the cost of batteries and increase their availability dramatically-which is where the Gigafactory comes in.
Gigafactory I is still in its first phase-currently representing about 14% of its planned footprint. It stands stark in the middle of the red Nevada desert, on a giant section of leveled earth. Today, the factory is geared toward producing Tesla’s Powerwalls and Powerpacks, massive batteries produced for residential and commercial applications.
However, everything about the Gigafactory is geared for future growth. Its exterior walls are temporary in anticipation of expansion, and Musk has purchased 3,000 acres of land in total so that the Gigafactory can continue to grow in an incremental, modular fashion over the next decade.
When completed [predicted to be in 2020), the 13.6 million-square-foot building will be shaped like a diamond. From above, it will resemble a shiny, clean computer chip, covered entirely with solar panels and oriented toward true North. Unsurprisingly, one of the project’s key goals [and indeed central to all of Musk’s projects] is to be net-zero, using 100% renewable energy to drive production and recycling all industrial waste as effectively as possible.
The Gigafactory will be home to 6,500 employees and a massive fleet of robots, including automated guided vehicle-which roam the factory using digital maps and sensors. Raw materials will be transported into the factory on rail cars, making the transition from mine to finished product virtually seamless. At full force, the Gigafactory will produce enough batteries to support 1.5 million cars each year, both in the form of onboard vehicular batteries and in the form of stationary power storage, which will become more ubiquitous as the electric revolution takes over the country.
At least that’s the plan. Overall, the Gigafactory will cost upwards of $9 billion which explains the building’s four earthquakeproof foundations protecting Tesla’s massive investment. With such a large investment, a lot is riding on the next few years of Model 3 sales. If it succeeds, we may see more Gigafactories in the future-and the biggest change in automobiles since Ford rolled out the Model T in 1908.
As atmospheric carbon continues to climb, Musk is focused full-throttle on transitioning our energy sources toward sustainable alternatives, both with Tesla and SolarCity, where he serves as Chairman. While we’ve seen incremental growth in alternative energy sources with the slow adoption of wind and solar power, a massive and sudden paradigm shift hasn’t yet occurred. If it does, it may be ignited in a town called Sparks.
Originally Published in:
Great beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your website, how could i subscribe for a blog site? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea
Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
I am impressed with this website , very I am a big fan .
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later. Many thanks
I have recently started a web site, the information you offer on this web site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.
I like the efforts you have put in this, regards for all the great posts.
I’m not sure why but this website is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
Very interesting info!Perfect just what I was looking for!
You actually make it seem so easy along with your presentation but I to find this topic to be really something which I feel I would never understand. It kind of feels too complex and extremely wide for me. I am looking forward in your next submit, I?¦ll attempt to get the dangle of it!
Appreciate it for this post, I am a big big fan of this site would like to go along updated.
I have been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or weblog posts in this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this website. Reading this info So i am happy to show that I’ve an incredibly good uncanny feeling I found out exactly what I needed. I most no doubt will make certain to do not put out of your mind this website and provides it a look on a relentless basis.
Thank you, I have just been looking for info about this subject for a long time and yours is the best I have found out so far. However, what concerning the bottom line? Are you certain in regards to the source?
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will definitely comeback.
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very difficult to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appearance. I must say you’ve done a awesome job with this. In addition, the blog loads super quick for me on Opera. Exceptional Blog!
I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thank you, I¦ll try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your web site?