By Jeff St. John | Greentech Media
Tesla Motors is finally ready to confirm that it’s building its $5 billion Giga factory in Nevada, putting to rest a five-state competition for what’s slated to be the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery plant. But the scope of Tesla’s plans extend far beyond the state’s borders.
On Thursday afternoon, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval officially announced that Tesla would be setting up its new battery plant in the state. Turns out, a major ground-clearing project outside Reno is the site of its promised 10-million-square-foot factory that will double the world’s lithium-ion battery capacity by decade’s end.
Tesla wants to have the Giga factory running in 2017, and capable of supplying 35 gigawatt-hours of batteries for the estimated 500,000 electric vehicles Tesla expects to build in 2020. California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico were also vying for the Giga factory, and California lawmakers were ready to relax regulatory and environmental rules to entice the Fremont, Calif.-based company to stay within the state’s borders.
