Tesla to Expand Nevada Factory

Tesla, run by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, intends to produce high volumes of semitrucks and make enough cell batteries for 2 million light-duty vehicles annually in Nevada. They will be investing over $3.6 billion more to continue growing Gigafactory Nevada, adding 3,000 new team members and two new factories: a 100 GWh 4680 cell factory (with capacity to produce enough batteries for 1.5 million light duty vehicles annually), as well as the first high-volume Semi factory.  The details of any potential tax breaks for Tesla’s $3.6 billion expansion of its Nevada factory will remain secret until late February, under a nondisclosure agreement that state officials signed with the electric carmaker

Why did Tesla choose to build its Gigafactory in Nevada. States without sales tax were topping the list of preferred sites. Nevada estimates a tax base of $1.9 billion over 20 years. After sticky negotiations, Tesla chose the TRIC as the location of the Gigafactory mainly due to speed and a State of Nevada incentive packages.  

The factory which is located less than an hour from Lake Tahoe, Gigafactory Nevada is one of the world’s highest volume plants for electric motors, energy storage products, vehicle powertrains and batteries—producing billions of cells per year. Why is it called a Gigafactory? The word gigafactory comes from the notion of gigawatt, or one billion watts.  And one billion watts is enough energy to power 700,000 homes for an entire year! So technically speaking, a gigafactory is a battery factory capable of producing more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of continuous power per year. Will the gigafactory be solar powered?  Musk tweeted Tuesday that the company expects the factory to eventually be “almost entirely solar-powered.”

Is Nevada rich in Lithium? In northern Nevada, a place called Peehee Mu’huh – or Thacker Pass -is sacred indigenous land and also potentially the largest deposit of lithium in the US. The largest producer of lithium in Nevada is a company called Albemarle.  Albemarle operates the only active lithium mine in the U.S., located in Silver Peak, Nevada.  One has to ask if the mining of lithium is harmful? According to a report by Friends of the Earth (FoE), lithium extraction inevitably harms the soil and causes air contamination. As demand rises, the mining impacts are “increasingly affecting communities where this harmful extraction takes place, jeopardizing their access to water,” says the report.

Finally, which Sate has the most Tesla’s dealerships?  California has 62 (28%) with a population of 39.51 Million people. Texas is 2nd with 23(10%) with a population of 29.00 Million.