The latest investment by Tesla comes at a time when US automakers are heavily investing in electric vehicles and batteries.
Tesla said that it would invest $3.6 billion in its Nevada Gigafactory and recruit 3,000 new team members and build two new factories.
Tesla said in a statement that its new facilities will include a 100 GWh 4680 battery cell factory, with a capacity to produce battery cells for 1.5 million light-duty vehicles annually, and a high-volume factory where it will eventually manufacture its Class 8 heavy-duty, fully electric truck, the Tesla Semi.
Semi is a fully electric combination truck, with 500 miles of range and energy consumption of less than 2 kWh per mile. Tesla first announced its plans to produce the Semi in 2017 and then in 2019, which was delayed until 2022. The company is not yet manufacturing a high volume of Semi trucks but is making some at the Nevada Gigafactory.
The Nevada facility, which is Tesla’s first Gigafactory, was constructed in 2014 and is now operated in partnership with Panasonic. It primarily manufactures and supplies high-voltage battery packs to Tesla’s Fremont, California, vehicle assembly plant.
A recent report by Counterpoint stated that the US electric vehicle (EVs, BEVs and PHEVs only) sales grew by about 52% year-on-year during the third quarter of 2022, of which Tesla sold EVs equivalent to the next 15 brands combined and emerged as the sole giant in the market. The report expects US EV sales to cross 10 million units annually by 2030.
Tesla’s mammoth-sized investment comes at a time when traditional automakers are adding more electric vehicles to their lineups. In order to stay ahead of the competition, Tesla has slashed the prices of its Model 3 and Model Y by more than 20%.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, had earlier announced his goal of delivering 20 million cars per year by 2030. Last year, Tesla delivered 1.31 million vehicles, a 40% increase from 2021.
