AUSTIN, TX (BDPA Austin) — “We’re going to make it a factory that is going to be stunning; it’s right on the Colorado River. So we’re actually going to have to have a boardwalk over you, hiking, biking trail. It’s going to basically be an ecological paradise,” Elon Musk announced during the company’s earnings call this week.
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy through increasingly affordable electric vehicles and renewable energy generation and storage systems. At the heart of these products are batteries. Tesla has seen enormous demand for energy products and electric vehicles. Today, there are more than 350,000 Tesla vehicles on the roads worldwide, and we’ve installed over 1 GWh of energy storage across the globe.
The Gigafactory was born out of necessity and will supply enough batteries to support Tesla’s projected demand. In mid-2018, battery production at Gigafactory 1 reached an annualized rate of roughly 20 GWh, making it the highest-volume battery plant in the world. Tesla currently produces more batteries in terms of kWh than all other carmakers combined. With the Gigafactory ramping up production, Tesla’s cost of battery cells will significantly decline through economies of scale, innovative manufacturing, reduction of waste, and the simple optimization of locating most manufacturing processes under one roof.
Powerpack (shown above) integrates batteries, power electronics, thermal management and controls into a turnkey solution that’s easy to install for businesses and utilities. Photo credits: Tesla
The Gigafactory is designed to be a net-zero energy factory upon completion. It will not consume any fossil fuels – there is no natural gas piped to the site nor are there permanent diesel generators being used to provide power. Emergency backup is fed from various electric sources, including renewable energy and storage products.
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