Musk: Location Of First Tesla Gigafactory To Be Announced By Year-End

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

For those awaiting when and where Tesla will build its first Gigafactory, the automaker announced the decision should come near the end of the year, and that said Gigafactory will have siblings.

The Detroit News reports CEO Elon Musk told shareholders at Tesla’s annual meeting in Mountain View, Calif. that as many as three states could see one of the battery factories land in their boundaries, with Gigafactory 1 delivering 6,500 jobs at a cost of $5 billion between it and its investors to one of four states before the end of 2014. Musk added the plans were “quite advanced,” and that his company talks with Panasonic — who wants the Gigafactory all for itself — on a day-to-day basis.

In addition to sharing the love with the concept of American-made battery packs, Tesla plans to boost deliveries of the Model S by 56 percent as markets in China and elsewhere come online. Musk himself will travel to the United Kingdom this week to oversee delivery of the first RHD models assembled by Tesla, with other RHD markets — Japan, Hong Kong et al — to receive theirs down the road. All Ss will also receive software upgrades to provide the owners with more customization abilities, with auto-pilot features to come sometime in 2015.

Finally, Musk himself proclaimed he would not leave the controls of his company until sales of Tesla’s third-gen EVs began, a inevitability not due for the next four to five years.

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • 05lgt 05lgt on Jun 05, 2014

    Simulated automated breakthroughs. Something about Musk and Tesla has always screamed scam to me. I'm not an expert and haven't taken time to look into the particulars, it's just that from a distance it looks just like an effort to scam shareholders would. I hope it works out.

  • Ruggles Ruggles on Jun 05, 2014

    Its going to be quite a chore to get volume to 500K volume by 2020. A LOT can happen. The city limits of Detroit won't accommodate a 1000 acre site. It still isn't clear to me how EVs are viable in cold climes. The battery doesn;t do well at autobahn speeds either. To do 500 in a year requires quite a distribution network. Everyone will be watching to see how this all works out.

  • Ruggles Ruggles on Jun 05, 2014

    Its going to be quite a chore to get volume to 500K volume by 2020. A LOT can happen. The city limits of Detroit won't accommodate a 1000 acre site. It still isn't clear to me how EVs are viable in cold climes. The battery doesn't do well at autobahn speeds either. To do 500K in a year requires quite a distribution network. Everyone will be watching to see how this all works out.

  • Master Baiter Master Baiter on Jun 05, 2014

    I heard they're projecting a 30% reduction in cell cost in the next few years. That's not enough reduction to make a high range, cost effective EV. They'd need more like a 70% reduction in cost to be able to make a Camry-sized, 200+ mile car for $30K.

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