Despite being only 30% finished, Tesla’s lithium-ion Gigafactory has rumbled into life proving the US can go head-to-head with Asia’s battery making industry.
Mass production of 2170 cells for Tesla’s Powerwall range of energy storage systems began last week, with Model 3 cell production set to follow in Q2 of this year.
It follows Tesla and Japanese battery maker Panasonic’s cylindrical cells being successful produced for qualification in December.
By 2018 the Gigafactory is expected to produce 35GWh of lithium-ion battery cells a year— enough for 500,000 vehicles.
The Gigafactory is being built in phases so Tesla, Panasonic, and other partners can begin manufacturing as early as possible.
A Tesla statement said: “With the Gigafactory online and ramping up production, our cost of battery cells will significantly decline due to increasing automation and process design to enhance yield, lowered capital investment per Wh of production, the simple optimization of locating most manufacturing processes under one roof, and economies of scale.”
The current structure is 1.9 million square feet, and houses 4.9 million square feet of operational space across a number of floors.
Back in late 2015 Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, hinted at opening other Gigafactories in India, China and Europe claiming ‘high’ local demand could ‘make sense in the long term’.
One of Tesla’s biggest competitors is Chinese firm Build Your Dreams (BYD), which already has a Gigafactory in China, and plans to ramp up production from 10GWh to 34GWh by 2020.
Last year battery manufacture Dynavolt Renewable Energy Technology announced plans build a ¥3 billion ($438million) plant in China with an annual lithium-ion battery output of 5GWh as well as research projects.
