Contractors continue construction on the Tesla Motor Inc. Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, U.S., on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Tesla officially opened its Gigafactory on Tuesday, a little more than two years after construction began. (Photo : Getty Images/ Troy Harvey)
Tesla Motor Corporation, an American electric carmaker has set the rollout of its latest sedan, the Tesla Model 3, in the second half of next year.
According to NBC News, the Tesla Motors' $5 billion factory constructed in the Nevada desert could double the world's production of lithium-ion batteries.
The Gigafactory was officially opened by Tesla on Tuesday which comes a little more than two years after its construction commenced. Apparently, the company decided to finish building its massive factory ahead of its scheduled date in order to provide power for new types of vehicles and also meet the demand for the Model 3.
Tesla Gigafactory is about 14 percent complete and when dually completed,it will be about 10 million square feet. That will make it one of the largest buildings in the world.
The factory is of great importance to the future of Palo Alto, California-based Tesla. The electric car company which is 13-year-old has never made a full-year profit and it want to transition from a niche maker of luxury vehicles to a maker of affordable vehicles such as cars, pickups and even semi-trucks. The company also runs Tesla Powerwall which is a solar energy storage business for homes and businesses.
The rollout is not ordinary for the Tesla Model 3 because the company is said to be eyeing production of some 200,000 units of the vehicle by next year. The projection has been criticized as rather an ambitious one putting into consideration that it is of higher margin than that for the American electric carmaker's Model S and the Model X. Also, the target of producing the 500,000 units in 2018 is seen as even more ambitious target, Master Herald reported.
In order to bring the project into completion, Tesla Company has doubled the workforce in the Gigafactory which sits on a more than 3,000 acres of land near Reno. Currently, there are 1,000 workers who work seven days a week on two shifts with an aim of churning out lithium-ion cells before the end of this year.
At the moment, the structure of the Gigafactory is almost one-sixth of what the final building would come out to be when completed. Its exterior walls are temporary and can be relocated.
The construction has seen completion of a four-storey rectangular portion of the facility which houses 1.9 million square feet of floor space.
Incidentally, the all-electric Chevy Bolt is reported to be more ready compared to the Tesla Model 3. This is not actually a surprise since the Bolt was already partially-released late last year although it will be re-launched later this year.
On the other hand, the Model 3 is still set for the second half of 2017 release date which gives the Bolt almost a year of a head start. Forbes reports that it might be about two years if the partial unveiling in 2015 is to be factored into the equation as well.
Tesla, does not make a big fuss whenever its Model 3 is being compared to the Chevy Bolt. The company finally spoke in light of the statement of the CEO of Auto Lectrification and former chief engineer of the Chevy Bolt program, Jon Bereisa, who recently said that the Model 3 estimate cost breakdown adds up to the vehicle being unprofitable for Tesla.
Tesla Model 3 will be officially released late next year to the dealers and if all goes according to the plan of the American electric carmaker, it will be a complete game-changer, confidently states Elon Musk.
Watch a video of Tesla Gigafactory Easter 2016 video here:
