Tesla opens Gigafactory in Nevada desert

Tesla Motors has officially opened its battery production facility called the Gigafactory. This facility is located in the Nevada desert, and has been built for in-house production of batteries in order to reduce production costs of Tesla cars.

Tesla started building the Gigafactory two years back. The construction is still only 14% complete, but the US-based electric car maker claims that 31 percent of the production facility would be completed by the second quarter of 2017. Once the entire facility has been built, the Tesla Gigafactory will spread over an area of 10 million square feet.

Tesla claims that the Gigafactory will help it reduce battery costs by more than a third by the year 2018. This will help the automaker to add more affordable cars to its portfolio.

At present, the biggest job at hand for the Gigafactory is the production of battery packs for Tesla's recently revealed car - the Model 3. The Model 3 is the company's most affordable car yet. Tesla engineers have used a new type of battery cell in it, which is different to the units used in earlier models like the Model S and the Model X. This new battery cell has helped the car maker to price the Model 3 at a relatively lower tag of $ 35,000.

Panasonic Corp., Tesla's long-term battery supplier, is also a partner in the Nevada based Gigafactory. The Japanese electronics firm has invested $ 1.6 billion in the production facility. Panasonic is expected to start making battery cells by the end of this year.

Tesla is aiming to build 5,00,000 vehicles per year by 2018. The company's CEO, Elon Musk, had recently disclosed its future strategy, which stated its plans to venture into other vehicle segments like pickups, compact SUVs, and commercial vehicles.

Source: Bloomberg