Everyone's excited about Tesla's new Model 3 car, but mass-producing that electric vehicle is going to require a ton of batteries.
That's where Tesla's Gigafactory comes into play.
For those unfamiliar, Tesla describes its massive 5.5 million-square-foot Gigafactory as a way to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transportation."
The first Gigafactory, outside Sparks, Nevada, is an ambitious manufacturing facility that plans to build batteries for Tesla's electric cars for the foreseeable future. To make these batteries, Tesla will use "economies of scale, innovative manufacturing, reduction of waste, and the simple optimization of locating most manufacturing process under one roof."
The Gigafactory is also notable since it will be powered completely by renewable energy, according to Tesla.
Its first Gigafactory aims to start building battery cells by 2017 to coincide with the launch of the Model 3, reaching full capacity by 2020. But for now, all we can do is view the Gigafactory from the outside. And thanks to a drone pilot and his low-altitude quadrocopter, we can see how construction on the $5 billion building is coming along.
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Here's Tesla's first Gigafactory, just outside Sparks, Nevada.
Tesla spent an estimated $4.5 million to build the first phase of the Gigafactory's roof, according to work permits obtained by the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Construction on the roof is mostly complete. Solar panels are coming later, but the white foundation will ensure that the roof stays cool, thus optimizing the efficiency of the solar panels.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider