Tuesday, May 10, 2016

How powerful is Tesla’s battery factory Gigafactory – this is all we know – IDG.se

By now know that Tesla wants to change the world with their electric cars, but that’s not all. In the shadow of the Model S and the other super cars Elon Musk has another plan: he’ll make us independent of the mains.

By June 2014, Tesla took the first strides in the desert outside the city of Sparks in the US state of Nevada. It was the start of construction of Gigafactory, a huge battery factory where production began on a small scale earlier this year. By 2020, production is up and running.

The capacity will be almost ridiculous. 2020 Gigafactory on their own produce lithium-ion batteries to a larger capacity than the entire total global production in 2013. A total of 35GWh batteries leave the assembly line each year. In addition, Tesla is already bought up the land next to the plant, and expects to double production in Sparks if all goes well.

Read also: Sure, you can buy the Tesla Model X for over a million – this is the full price list

It may be needed. The next few years will light vehicle that turned up to new levels. Last year, Tesla delivered around 50,000 finished cars but by 2018 the company wants to increase tenfold capacity. By streamlining and mass production of the Tesla believes, moreover, that they can bring down the price per kilowatt-hour by over a third from today’s levels.

– It’s not just about building more batteries, but to reduce costs, explains Tesla CTO JB Straubel said in an interview with NPR.


The lower production cost will be important for Tesla’s next car model 3. It is described as an electric car for the masses, or at least to a wider audience than lyxåken Model S and Model X Number three ports in the same price as a new car, and the automaker has already received over 325 000 advance orders.

The factory itself is huge, over 900 000 square meters. When it is completed it will be the area’s largest building in the world, and only Boeing aircraft factory in Everett, Washington, is larger in volume.

Read also: Promise from Elon Musk: Next Tesla will all afford

The price tag will be understood accordingly. Monster construction is estimated to cost five billion US dollars, more than 40 billion.

Gigafactory will get all its electricity from renewable sources. Solar panels, wind turbines and geothermal heat will drive the entire business. The entire roof will be covered with solar panels, but it is not certain that it is Elon Musks own. Tesla’s CEO is co-founder of manufacturers SolarCity, but they must still submit a competitive bid to win the contract, writes Reno Gazette-Journal.

At the same time factory to make renewable energy accessible to more people, it is the next step in Tesla’s plan.

Read also: Tesla’s super battery comes in a new version

– Our goal is changing the way the world uses energy in extremely large scale, said Elon Musk, when he presented the battery Power Wall last spring.

There is a battery system for home with a capacity of up to 10kWh which can be used as a backup source, or as a buffer for the solar cells on the roof. With its own energy source and a Power Wall-battery, a household to function completely disconnected from the main power grid.

Tesla also makes Big Brother Power Pack, with capacity of up to 100KWh, for companies and other large customers. In Elon Musks vision can be 160 million Powepack provide energy to the United States and two billion units will solve the world’s energy needs.

But the vision has been questioned. Tom Milnes, CEO of technology company Open Water Power, do not think that lithium ion batteries are a long-term solution to the energy problems of the world.

– I personally think it is short-sighted of Tesla’s factory to produce hundreds of thousands of new lithium-ion batteries, the batteries will simply never to store all the energy they would need, he tells the Guardian.

Additionally, a so extensive production of lithium-ion batteries large amounts of nickel and cobalt, which according to a UN report has “the highest potential to impact the environment.” They mention the impact that the depletion of natural resources, global warming, poisoned nature and the people who work with production at risk of suffering.

Perhaps Tesla partially rescue the situation. The company has plans for a huge recycling as part of Gigafactory. There, they can break down the worn-ion batteries and reusing the material in manufacturing output.

Read also: Tesla is the undisputed king of electric cars – why is Elon Musk succeeded where others have bet?

Gigafactory built as a partnership between Tesla and Panasonic. The Japanese technology company is in the production of battery cells and will have invested almost 15 billion in the plant.

There is an interesting detail with Gigafactory that will make this possible. Last year announced Elon Musk that he renames the battery factory to Gigafactory 1. Tesla’s plan goes in the lock wait giant new facilities with a view to the perhaps not too distant future where there is a battery pack in every home.

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