Dive Brief:
- After announcing its third-quarter earnings Tuesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told shareholders in a conference call that construction of the company's Reno, NV, gigafactory is ahead of schedule.
- Musk said the advanced schedule has accelerated the start of gigafactory cell production for Tesla Energy products to the end of next year — several quarters ahead of initial predictions. Although the gigafactory is still under construction, Tesla also announced it has moved production of its Powerwall product to an automated production line within the new gigafactory.
- Tesla Motors shares rose Tuesday after the company announced third-quarter results were only slightly below investor expectations, with quarterly revenue of $1.2 billion, or $937 of GAAP revenue.
Dive Insight:
Tesla’s $5 billion Nevada gigafactory, which the electric car maker has claimed will be the largest lithium-ion battery plant in the world, reportedly could become the world’s largest building — in terms of footprint — by the time it is finished.
Work on the interior of the plant officially began last month, with Tesla acting as its own contractor. The facility houses the manufacturing of battery packs for Tesla’s Powerwall, the energy-storage system that homebuilders are watching carefully as a potential upsell in new homes.
Tesla has said the factory eventually will employ 9,000 people, and Bloomberg reported that some of them have started relocating to Reno and buying homes there. The median home price in May jumped 19% from a year earlier. Real estate prices for commercial and rental properties in Reno have also surged. Over 20 years, the factory will spur approximately $97 billion in economic activity, Bloomberg estimated.
