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Tesla is starting Model 3 battery cell production at Gigafactory 1 ‘right now’

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Tesla has confirmed that it started production of the new Model 3 battery cell at Gigafactory 1 in Nevada over the weekend – an important step toward launching the production of the Model 3.

The new battery cells are believed to be key to Tesla achieving the necessary cost reductions that enable the Model 3’s $35,000 starting price tag before incentive. 
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Tesla unlocks another $11 million in transferable tax credits after passing latest audit for Gigafactory 1

At Tesla’s 2017 Annual Shareholder Meeting yesterday, CEO Elon Musk confirmed that work at Tesla Gigafactory 1 is on schedule and that he expects that it will soon produce more li-ion batteries than the entire world production combined.

A recent third-party audit of Tesla’s Gigafactory project shows that it is indeed progressing according to plan and it even unlocked another $11 million in transferable tax credits through the company’s deal with the state of Nevada.
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Tesla currently working on 3 new factories, will build a new one for Model Y, 10-20 gigafactories total

At today’s shareholder meeting, we heard more from Tesla CEO Elon Musk about “the machine that builds the machine.”

While Tesla’s first Gigafactory is not yet fully operational, the company is currently finalizing three additional locations for future gigafactories, with an announcement to come about those locations. Musk mentioned that it is likely Tesla will eventually build 10-20 gigafactories worldwide, in the long-term.

Musk also stated that Tesla will have to find or build a new factory to manufacture the Model Y, while the Model 3 will still be built at Tesla’s main factory in Fremont, along with the Model S and Model X.


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Tesla’s upcoming Gigafactories to be ‘close to the end customer’ and have ‘very high headcount’, says Elon Musk

Since Tesla confirmed its intention to announce locations for 3 to 4 more upcoming Gigafactories to produce batteries and electric vehicles, a lot of regions have been very excited about to potential opportunities.

While CEO Elon Musk was asked a few times to confirm where those new factories will be located and he refused, he now disclosed that they will be ‘close to the end customer’ and have ‘very high headcount’ around the factories.
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Tesla to start adding a new section to Gigafactory 1 in Nevada – new building permits

Earlier this year, Tesla reached over $1 billion in construction spending on the Gigafactory in Nevada, according to building permits. Despite the large investment, the current structure, which hasn’t changed much so far this year, only represent a fraction of the planned final building.

We now learn that they are working on adding another expansion to the building with a new section.
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Tesla to announce not ‘2 or 3’, but ‘probably 4’ more Gigafactories this year

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Tesla surprised its shareholders earlier this year when they wrote in their quarterly letter that they plan to announce 2 or 3 more Gigafactories by the end of the year.

Considering the ‘Gigafactory 1’ in Nevada is one of Tesla’s biggest and most important projects, it was surprising that the company would build 2 to 3 more, but now CEO Elon Musk said that it will “probably be 4”.
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Tesla Gigafactory: Nevada Lt. Gov. wants Tesla’s battery factory to become a tourist attraction

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Nevada’s Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison recently went on a trade mission to China to promote tourism and his “biggest takeaway” from the mission is surprising: touring Tesla’s Gigafactory was a “near-constant theme” brought up by Chinese industrial spies tourism officials.

Hutchison says that he plans to bring it up to Tesla officials in order to set up tours of the battery factory.
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Tesla Gigafactory: ‘chemical spill’ had nothing to do with batteries, no serious injuries and production isn’t affected

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You know that everything having to do with Tesla is being looked under the microscope when spilling a few gallons of cleaning solvent makes it to Reuters with the headline “Chemicals spill at Tesla battery factory, no serious injuries“.

Tesla confirmed that as part of their safety protocols, they called the authorities after “a drum of standard construction cleaning solvent” was spilled on the loading docks at Gigafactory 1 in Nevada, which prompts the reports.
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Tesla shuts down another rumor of finalized plans to build a Gigafactory in China

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other company officials have talked about building a Gigafactory to manufacture batteries and electric vehicles in China for the past 3 years and while they have been several reports of finalized plans, they have all been shut down.

A new one came this week after a report in the Southern Metropolis Daily, citing multiple sources, claimed that Tesla had struck a deal to build a factory without a joint-venture in China’s Guangdong province. The company denied the report, but without necessarily denying that a factory is coming to China.
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Tesla Gigafactory: Panasonic is holding hiring event as it seeks to hire 2,000 at the battery plant this year alone

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Tesla and Panasonic are expected to soon significantly increase battery production at the Gigafactory in Nevada in order to produce not only batteries for the Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2, but also for the Model 3.

Panasonic will hold a hiring event in Reno this week as it seeks to hire 2,000 workers at the battery plant this year alone.
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Tesla Gigafactory 1: new aerial picture shows latest progress at the battery factory

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Three years into the project, Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada is now more than 2 months into its first battery cell production. The factory is also now producing both Powerpack 2 and Powerwall 2 battery packs for stationary energy storage to use those new cells and finally, it is preparing for the start of Model 3 production with new battery cell lines and drive unit production lines.

While it’s starting to become a real producing factory, it’s still very much in construction and we now get a new look at the latest progress.
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Tesla obtains $11.5 million in transferable tax credits after passing latest audit for Gigafactory 1

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While it was widely reported that Tesla received $1.3 billion in incentives from the state of Nevada to build its factory east of Reno, the automaker has only received a small fraction of that amount and the rest is gradually being unlocked as tax credits as Tesla reaches job and investment requirements under the agreement.

The company passed its latest audit of the project and unlocked $11,567,061 in transferable tax credits.
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Tesla Gigafactory: Elon Musk shows confidence in new battery production, says could deliver 100+ MWh in 100 days or free

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With the confidence of a well-oiled pizza shop, Elon Musk “seriously” said that Tesla could deliver a more than 100 MWh Powerpack project to Australia in 100 days – or it will be free.

The promise is a clear show of confidence from the CEO in Tesla and Panasonic’s new battery production at the Gigafactory in Nevada.
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Former Tesla executives plan their own Gigafactory in Europe to bring battery cost down below $100/kwh

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Tesla’s former Vice President of Supply Chain Management, Peter Carlsson, has officially launched his new startup called North Volt along with another former Tesla supply chain executive, Paolo Cerruti, and financed by Swedish investors.

The executives plan to build their own Gigafactory for li-ion batteries in Europe – possibly Sweden or Finland. They have the ambitious goal to bring down the cost of batteries below $100/kWh.
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Tesla Gigafactory and Faraday Future deals under scrutiny from Nevada State Treasurer

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Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz has been a strong opponent of the deal that brought electric vehicle maker Faraday Future to the state. He went as far as calling it a “Ponzi scheme.”

Schwartz is turning up the scrutiny on the company and dragged Tesla into it by calling for an audit of the deals they made with Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED).
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Another Tesla Gigafactory could be coming to the US, a tristate border is a possibility, says Elon Musk

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The news that Tesla is looking at not only one location but possibily 3 more locations for Gigafactories got a lot of countries, states, and regions quite excited this week. Some European countries had already launched efforts to attract Tesla after they announced last year that they would be looking for a location in Europe to build another massive factory to manufacture both batteries and vehicles.

Now that the number of plants went up, the US could apparently also get another Gigafactory.
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How to invest in the resource boom that Tesla Gigafactory and electric vehicles are creating

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For those of us who believe that the entire automotive industry is rapidly transitioning from being powered by fossil fuels to electricity, it becomes important to transfer any asset from one to the other not only from an environmental standpoint, but also from a financial standpoint.

We have reported before on a growing movement to divest from fossil fuels – now reaching over $5.2 trillion – but the question is where do you reinvest that money? What is the new petrol?

The minerals used to make batteries are obvious contenders, but there are a lot of different kinds of batteries using all different minerals. Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada is alone expected to double the global battery production over the next year and therefore, it could create a resource boom.
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Tesla is now claiming 35% battery cost reduction at ‘Gigafactory 1’ – hinting at breakthrough cost below $125/kWh

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Recent studies show that average electric vehicle battery cost dropped 80% in 6 years down to ~$227/kWh. It’s exciting progress for the electric vehicle industry, but it’s still not enough to make long-range electric cars affordable.

You need batteries significantly below the average – battery cell and pack cost – in order to achieve the price point for mass market appeal and that’s what Tesla is trying to do with the Gigafactory. The company was aiming for at least a 30% reduction from its battery cost before the Gigafactory and it now claims a “35% cost reduction” in a new promotional video.
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Tesla Gigafactory: the Potemkin village looks more like a burgeoning city as workers start production

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The Gigafactory 1 in the Nevada desert is central to Tesla’s strategy. It’s seen among supporters as Tesla’s main advantage by securing low-cost battery supply that will enable ramping up production of long-range and affordable electric vehicles.

But it’s seen by detractors as a Potemkin village – no more than an empty shell with little chance of ever seeing any significant production of battery cells.
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Tesla Gigafactory reaches over $1 billion in construction costs as battery production ramps up

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As Tesla and Panasonic started battery cell production at the Gigafactory in Nevada last month, the company acquired several new building permits to continue expanding its already massive battery factory.

The addition and modification of 9 permits in January pushed the total construction cost of the plant passed $1 billion. 
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Lithuania wants the ‘Tesla Gigafactory 2’, so they built one in Minecraft

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Elon Musk may be a workaholic, but in his spare time he’s quite fond of video games.  His first programming project was a Space Invaders-style game and he’s recently tweeted about his enjoyment of Blizzard’s Overwatch.  So how better to appeal to him than by building a video game recreation of Tesla’s Gigafactory?

That’s what a team of Lithuanians thought, anyway.  41 gamers spent two days building and livestreaming a mockup of Tesla’s Gigafactory inside Minecraft, a “sandbox” videogame which lets players build an almost infinite variety of structures inside a virtual world.


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Tesla releases new up-close drone footage of Gigafactory 1 in Nevada

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Things are getting busy at the Gigafactory this month. Tesla and Panasonic have confirmed the start of battery cell production. Volume production of Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 are set to start as deliveries of the home battery pack are being confirmed in the first few markets and more Powerpack 2 projects are being announced.

That’s all being done while the battery plant is still under construction and Tesla released this week new drone footage showing the progress.
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