Tesla’s Gigafactory is ahead of schedule according to Nevada officials

AP reported that Steve Hill, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, presented a report to Nevada lawmakers on the progress of the Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks. The Governor’s Office expects the plant to be operational within a year, which is ahead of the original schedule, but in line with Elon Musk’s, Tesla’s CEO, recent comments on the pilot plant producing battery packs as soon as early 2016.The pilot plant will be about one quarter of the size of the final building, which at full production should be able to produce enough battery packs for 500,000 vehicles per year. The company expects to achieve full production in 2020.

The $5 billion project already created over 700 construction jobs in the state according to Hill. The company also hired 12 full-time employees and that number is expected to increase to 6,500 by the time the Gigafactory reaches full production. Tesla needs to comply with that number in order for the company to fully profit from the $1.3 billion in state incentives, mostly tax breaks,  Nevada promised.

You can watch this drone video to see the recent progress the company made on what could eventually be the biggest building on earth by total footprint.