An aerial view of the Tesla Gigafactory near Sparks, Nevada
Bob Stark | Portal
Tesla plans to spend $3.6 billion more on expanded battery and heavy-duty truck manufacturing in Nevada The company announced this on Tuesday on social media.
According to its public statements, Tesla intends to eventually hire 3,000 more employees at two new facilities.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Tesla’s plans would expand the company’s manufacturing footprint beyond the property it’s already developing outside of Reno in Sparks, Nevada.
Tesla said in a statement that its new facilities will include a 100GWh battery cell factory, where the company expects to have the capacity to manufacture battery cells for 2 million light commercial vehicles per year, and a high-volume factory where it will eventually manufacture its class 8 heavy, all-electric truck, the Tesla Semi.
Tesla began building its first battery factory in Nevada in 2014. It operates this facility today with a key cell supplier, co-tenant and co-investor in the factory, Panasonic. The sprawling factory is known as GF1, Giga Nevada, or the original Tesla Gigafactory. The Company primarily manufactures and supplies high-voltage batteries to Tesla’s vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, California.
Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo revealed details of Tesla’s expansion plans in the state early Monday. Tesla confirmed the plans Tuesday ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings update, which is scheduled for Wednesday after the market close.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk held a ceremony in Nevada in December to begin deliveries of the company’s Tesla Semi to a key early customer, PepsiCo. Tesla first announced its plans to produce the Semi in 2017 and had a planned start of production in 2019, pushed back to 2022. The company doesn’t make large quantities of semi-trucks yet, but does make a few at the Nevada Gigafactory.
Tesla fans and critics have posted pictures of Tesla Semi Trucks with Pepsi Frito Lay branding seen on the road since that announcement, including some punctures on the shoulder.
Tesla hasn’t publicly disclosed how much each truck costs, and didn’t specify how many it produced or sold in its fourth-quarter delivery report.
The company is expected to provide further details on its Semi program on its fourth-quarter earnings call.