Automaker Tesla has chosen US state Nevada as the site for its planned $5 billion lithium-ion battery factory.
Californian Tesla is to build the factory in partnership with Japan’s Panasonic and expects to produce 35GWh of packs per year by 2020 for Tesla’s upcoming electric vehicle. The plant is aimed to generate more than 6,500 jobs and build 500,000 cars per year.
Tesla will purchase the land, buildings and utilities required for the battery-producing factory and Panasonic will manufacture and supply cylindrical lithium-ion cells, as well as invest funds in equipment, machinery and tools. The possibly 10m sq. ft. site is aimed to be ready for production in 2017.
It is still unclear if Tesla will build a second factory as possible backup for the Nevada plant in case it will not deliver as expected.
Tesla announced in July that it had broken ground in Reno, Nevada, but stopped the construction. Reno has a four-hour proximity to Silver Peak, North America’s only commercially active lithium mine in Nevada.
“It really gives them a big advantage, because if you have to ship it, you have to ship it by rail, and that’s a hazardous product,” said Reno county judge Nelson Wolff.
