Tesla opened Giga Nevada in 2016, but only built out about 30% of what was proposed in the original plans. After years of prioritizing the battery cell production ramp inside the facility, Tesla is reportedly set to begin construction to expand the factory’s footprint.
Giga Nevada was built in several distinct sections, which are easily visible when looking at the factory from an aerial perspective. According to sources familiar with the plans that spoke with Electrek, Tesla will soon be adding on another section to the west side of the factory, as seen in the mock-up below.
This lower section of the factory houses Panasonic’s battery cell production operations, and this addition will increase Panasonic’s capacity for Tesla.
As we reported back in August, Panasonic is currently optimizing their operations in Giga Nevada to increase their production capacity of 2170 cells for Tesla by as much as 10%. This optimization should increase Giga Nevada’s output to about 43 GWh per year.
According to Electrek, this new expansion it is expected to more than double the factory’s output to 105GWh.
Giga Nevada currently has a footprint of approximately 1.9 million square feet, but houses more than 5 million square feet of operational space over several floors. There was no information on how many extra square feet will be added with this new addition.
While Tesla has not expanded the footprint of Giga Nevada since it was built, the company has expanded the solar array that sits on top of it. As of the most recent update from Tesla last month, the solar array now has a capacity of 8 megawatts (MW).
The initial plans called for a 70MW system, but that has also been limited due to the smaller buildout of the factory.
Giga Nevada see leadership change as Megapack and Powerwall production increases
Source: Electrek
