Construction of Tesla’s lithium-ion gigafactory is continuing with the main structure of the building in the final stages of its creation. The following video provides a good look at the sheer scale of the factory.
To put the size of the Tesla gigafactory into perspective, it will only be slightly smaller than the world’s largest building by volume, the Boeing Everett factory. All of that space will provide jobs for 6500 people while doubling the world’s supply of lithium-ion batteries.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSyE2RorjRI[/youtube]
All told, the gigafactory is expected to cost $5 billion to construct and a significant portion of that total cost, upwards of $1 billion, could be provided by Panasonic who have teamed up with Tesla on the project. Panasonic will initially invest between $194 million and $291 million for the machinery needed for the battery cell production. It is hoped that the gigafactory will be fully functional from 2018 onwards after ground was initially broken late last year
The entry-level Tesla Model 3 will be the first Tesla model to use batteries produced in the gigafactory and is a key reason behind the facility being created. Elon Musk believes the cost of batteries will drop by at least 30 per cent for the Model 3 which will allow the car to cost around $35,000 while having a 200 mile range.
