15 Nov, 2016

Elon Musk announces that Tesla will build a second Gigafactory in Europe

Green Transportation & Logistics | UNITED STATES | 16 Nov, 2016
Published by : Eco Media Asia

Tesla CEO Elon Musk just announced that the electric vehicle maker and clean energy storage company plans to build a second Gigafactory in Europe. Gigafactory 2 will manufacture both lithium-ion batteries and electric cars, while large-scale production of cars and batteries will also remain in the United States. Tesla also announced the acquisition of a German engineering group, Grohmann Engineering, in order to help boost its vehicle production.

The exact location within Europe will be determined next year. “This is something that we plan on exploring quite seriously with different locations for very large scale Tesla vehicles, and battery and powertrain production – essentially an integrated ‘Gigafactory 2’”, Musk said. “There’s no question that long-term Tesla will have at least one – and maybe two or three – vehicle and battery factory locations in Europe.”

Musk said that Tesla is planning on scaling up the rate of electric vehicle production from 100,000 cars a year to 600,000 cars a year when the Model 3 is at volume production. The Model 3 is expected to hit the market in mid-2017. According to Musk, the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California can put out between 500,000 and a million electric vehicles per year while Gigafactory 1 meets demand for batteries and Tesla Energy products.

Gigafactory 1, currently under construction near Sparks, Nevada, will produce batteries for the cars made at the Tesla Factory in Fremont. When completed, Gigafactory 1 will be the world’s largest building by physical area. The manufacturing plant will be net zero and carbon neutral, running on 100 percent renewable energy. Gigafactory 1 will produce battery cells, battery packs and drive units and is already producing the Powerpack 2 with the new Powerwall 2 coming off the assembly line soon.

Grohmann Engineering will become Tesla Grohmann Automation. The new division will be called Tesla Advanced Automation Germany, with headquarters at Grohmann’s Prüm facilities. The deal is expected to add more than 1,000 advanced engineering and skilled technician jobs in Germany over the next two years.

In a statement, Tesla said that “we are excited to have the Grohmann team join us in our goal of becoming the best manufacturer in the world to help accelerate the world’s progress to a sustainable energy future.”

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Article by Josh Marks at inhabitat.com
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