Manufacturing and Value Chains

This drone footage shows just how huge Tesla's Gigafactory really is

Tesla Model X cars are charged by superchargers at a Tesla electric car dealership in Sydney, Australia, May 31, 2017.  REUTERS/Jason Reed - RTX38AWK

Tesla's giant Gigafactory located in Sparks, Nevada, is where battery cells for electric cars are being produced. Image: REUTERS/Jason Reed

Cadie Thompson
Emerging tech editor, Business Insider

It looks like there is a lot of action going on at Tesla's giant Gigafactory.

The factory, which is located in Sparks, Nevada, is where Tesla is producing the battery cells for its electric cars and drive trains for its Model 3, the company's first mass-market electric car.

Image: BI

Tesla aims to ramp up production of its Model 3 to some 20,000 units per month by December and some 10,000 units per week in 2018, CEO Elon Musk has said.

But in order for the company to meet these lofty goals, it must also ramp up battery cell production.

That's where the Gigafactory comes in.

New drone footage posted by YouTube user California Phantom last Thursday captures the factory's massive size, but it also appears to show a lot of work happening at the factory. Scroll down for a closer look:

Tesla's Gigafactory is located on a 3,000-acre lot of land in Sparks, Nevada.

Image: BI
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And as you can see, the company needs that land not only for its giant factory, but also for parking so that it can accommodate its growing number of employees.

Image: BI

Construction at the factory has come a long way in just a few months. This shot of the factory's roof was taken in December.

Image: BI

Here's what it looks like now.

Image: BI

It doesn't look like there's been much more expansion of the main building externally since December, but the footage does appear to show a much busier atmosphere, suggesting there's some expansion going on inside.

The Gigafactory will be more than five million square feet (including several floors) once it's completed, and it will be capable of producing more battery cells than any other lithium ion battery factory in the world, Musk has said.

Image: BI
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