Tesla Gigafactory now employs over 850 workers, 1,000 more to come in first half of 2017 with production ramp up

Earlier this week, we reported on Tesla receiving $8 million in tax credit for the Gigafactory after passing an audit for job creation and investment requirements. The audit was based on Tesla’s progress at the plant as of June 2016: 331 jobs created and $450 million in investments.

Even though it satisfies the state’s requirements, the local media today highlighted the fact that job creation at the plant doesn’t align with a study of the impact of the battery factory dating back in 2014. While responding to the critic, Tesla confirmed that the Gigafactory now employs over 850 workers and that the company expects to add 1,000 more during the first half of 2017.

Update: those numbers are only for Tesla employees, Panasonic is also employing hundreds of people at the factory.

The company explains that the study, which projected employment would reach 1,700 before January 2017, assumed that the construction of the plant would start in “early 2014,” while it actually started in late 2014.

Here’s the statement sent to the media in full (emphasis my own):

“As the State of Nevada itself has indicated, Tesla is on track at the Gigafactory, where we are creating thousands of new jobs. The job numbers cited in the article are from almost six months ago. Today, Tesla employs more than 850 full time employees and there are more than 1,700 construction workers at the Gigafactory.

 

Moreover, the study’s expectations for where we would be today were based on the false assumption that construction commenced at the start of 2014. In reality, we did not begin significant construction until almost 2015. The study’s findings should be adjusted to reflect this discrepancy.

 

We are on schedule with our production, hiring and investment numbers. Tesla expects to hire more than 1,000 additional full time employees at the Gigafactory in the first half of 2017.”