Work has begun on Tesla Motors’ “gigafactory,” a $5 billion project on 980 acres in Sparks, Nev., that, when at full capacity in 2020, could annually produce 50 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries, or enough for 500,000 of Tesla’s electric cars.
Sparks, a suburb of Reno, Nev., was the winner in the gigafactory sweepstakes whose finalists were Fort Worth, Austin, Phoenix, and Albuquerque. Last September, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a bill granting $1.3 billion in tax breaks to Tesla—including giving it the land for free—to build this massive plant, which at an estimated 5.5 million sf would be equal to 174 football fields.
Panasonic, which owns a portion of Tesla, last October said it would invest 10 billion Yen—or the equivalent of $92 million—into this project. The Wall Street Journal quoted Panasonic’s CEO, Kazuhiro Tsuga, who promised “installments of similar amounts” into this plant in the future. Currently, Panasonic supplies batteries for Tesla’s cars from its plants in Asia.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, says he expects Panasonic to contribute between 30% and 40% of the plant’s total cost. Tesla Motors will ante up half of the cost, and will manage the plant itself.
Tesla is building this plant to provide batteries for its Model 3 car, which is scheduled to go into production in late 2017 or early 2018. The plant would also provide batteries for Tesla’s Model S, and its upcoming Model X SUV. However, when this plant is scheduled to open is uncertain, as different news reports have said the opening could be in late 2016 or sometime in 2017.
The Nevada plant’s construction is projected to create between 20,000 and 22,000 jobs, and 6,500 permanent jobs. Over a 20-year period, the plant is expected to add $100 billion to Nevada’s economy.
Tesla’s goal is to produce batteries that are cheap enough for it to be sell its Model 3s for around $35,000. These batteries would also allow the electric cars to drive up to 200 miles before needing recharging.
However, given that Tesla sold between 33,000 and 35,000 cars globally in 2014, according to the website InsideEVs, its dreams of 500,000 units sales seem quixotic, especially given buyers’ lukewarm reception to all-electric cars so far.
To put this into some perspective, the two best-selling vehicle models in the U.S.—the Ford F-series trucks and Toyota Camry—sold 763,000 and 404,000 units in the U.S., respectively, last year, when a total of 16.5 million autos were purchased by American buyers. Toyota offers a gas-electric hybrid model, one of 47 hybrids from different manufacturers available in the U.S., where hybrids account for 3.2% of all light-vehicle sales.
Plug-in electric car sales in the U.S., on the other hand, rose above the 100,000-unit level for the third consecutive year in 2014, according to the website GreenCarReports.
Tesla doesn’t break out its U.S. sales, but given that its Model S starts at $70,000, one would think its market share is small. Nevertheless, the company is banking on a sizable increase in worldwide demand for electric cars. Last week Musk told CNBC that his company “should be able to produce a few million cars a year by 2025.” Tesla recently upgraded its plant in Fremont, Calif., to be able to produce 100,000 electric cars by the end of 2015.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Florida mixed-use complex includes retail, residential
The $325 million Atlantic Plaza II lifestyle center will be built on 8.5 acres in Delray Beach, Fla. Designed by Vander Ploeg & Associates, Boca Raton, the complex will include six buildings ranging from three to five stories and have 182,000 sf of restaurant and retail space. An additional 106,000 sf of Class A office space and a residential component including 197 apartments, townhouses, ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Florida International University's cantilevered design
Suffolk Construction's Miami-Dade business unit is serving as GC for the $14 million School of International and Public Affairs building at the University Park Campus of Florida International University. Designed by Arquitectonica, Miami, the five-story, 58,408-sf building will have a café and three auditoriums on the ground level; the largest auditorium will have a 40-foot cantilever abov...
| Aug 11, 2010
Restoration gives new life to New Formalism icon
The $30 million upgrade, restoration, and expansion of the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles was completed by the team of Rios Clementi Hale Studios (architect), Harley Ellis Devereaux (executive architect/MEP), KPFF (structural engineer), and Taisei Construction (GC). Work on the Welton Becket-designed 1967 complex included an overhaul of the auditorium, lighting, and acoustics.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction material prices drop slightly in April, extending the decline
The construction materials price index for nonresidential buildings fell 0.3% in April extending the decline since the September index peak to 13.1%. Prices for the mix of materials used in nonresidential construction prices are back to the December 2007 level before the 14% jump in prices from March through September.
| Aug 11, 2010
Research Facility Breaks the Mold
In the market for state-of-the-art biomedical research space in Boston's Longwood Medical Area? Good news: there are still two floors available in the Center for Life Science | Boston, a multi-tenant, speculative high-rise research building designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, Boston, and developed by Lyme Properties, Hanover, N.
| Aug 11, 2010
Piano's 'Flying Carpet'
Italian architect Renzo Piano refers to his $294 million, 264,000-sf Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago as a “temple of light.” That's all well and good, but how did Piano and the engineers from London-based Arup create an almost entirely naturally lit interior while still protecting the priceless works of art in the Institute's third-floor galleries from dangerous ultravio...
| Aug 11, 2010
Precast All the Way
For years, precast concrete has been viewed as a mass-produced product with no personality or visual appeal—the vanilla of building materials. Thanks to recent technological innovations in precast molds and thin veneers, however, that image is changing. As precast—concrete building components that are poured and molded offsite—continues to develop a vibrant personality all it...
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Ill.
To complete the $55 million renovation of the historic John G. Shedd Aquarium in the allotted 17-month schedule, the Building Team had to move fast to renovate and update exhibit and back-of-house maintenance spaces, expand the visitor group holding area, upgrade the mechanical systems, and construct a single-story steel structure on top of the existing oceanarium to accommodate staff office sp...
| Aug 11, 2010
AIA Course: Building with concrete – Design and construction techniques
Concrete maintains a special reputation for strength, durability, flexibility, and sustainability. These associations and a host of other factors have made it one of the most widely used building materials globally in just one century. Take this free AIA/CES course from Building Design+Construction and earn 1.0 AIA learning unit.
| Aug 11, 2010
Blue-Light Schoolhouses
Add the explosion in the number of school-aged kids nationally to the glut of huge, vacant stores in many communities and what do you get? Big boxes being turned into schools. For districts facing population pressure, these empty retail buildings can be the key to creating classrooms quickly, and at a significant cost advantage.