On Tuesday, Musk said because the plan will roll out over a number of years, it could be mostly funded from sales of vehicles, particularly the Model 3 sedan due to launch in 2017. The driver was using the car’s autopilot feature.
Advertisement
The NTSB said at the time of the collision, the tractor trailer was making a left turn from westbound USA -27A across the two eastbound travel lanes onto a local paved road. Musk said the Powerwall business will initially make up about one-third of the Gigafactory’s output, but eventually could expand to around half.
Last week he unveiled an ambitious plan to expand the company into electric trucks and buses, as well as auto sharing.
An expanded range of Tesla electric vehicles would also produce a heavy demand for batteries. “Things are on track to be able to meet the Model 3 and start production in the middle of next year”. Chinese automaker BYD Co., which is backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Corp., also makes batteries and energy storage systems and is already building battery-powered buses in the U.S. The company hopes to bring low-priced electric cars to the U.S.in a few years.
Soon, company officials say, the current models will be built using one line of welding robots, so the other line can be reconfigured to build the Model 3.
Tesla is depending on economies of scale and the scale of this project in the desert is impressive. Tesla said the driver never hit the brakes before striking the truck. The factory is 14 percent complete; when it’s finished, it will be more than 10 million square feet, or about the size of 260 professional football fields.
Musk is also facing questions about his plan to have Tesla take over Solar City – the solar power company where he now serves as chairman.
“I think in a partnership, we need to be there on all aspect of how the technology being used, and not simply providing technology”, said by Mobileye CTO Amnon Shashua.
BMW has announced that it is joining forces with United States computer chip giant Intel and the Israeli technology firm Mobileye to develop self-driving cars, aiming for fully automated driving in production cars by 2021.
“Nothing could possibly go wrong”, Musk said.
This is the Gigafactory, where Tesla plans to build enough lithium ion batteries to catapult Tesla’s electric vehicles into the mainstream.
Advertisement
Out in the desert, just off Electric Avenue east of Sparks, Nevada, over 1,000 workers are building what will be the largest building in the world in terms of its footprint over the ground.
