Elon Musk has previously hinted that he was pondering the possibility of building Tesla gigafactories around the world and now confirmation has come that at least two additional ones are on the cards.
In the company’s final earnings report for 2016, Tesla said that Gigafactory 1, responsible for making batteries and the Model 3 and Gigafactory 2, the product of its Solar City merger, would be joined by Gigafactory 3, 4 and potentially 5.
“Installation of Model 3 manufacturing equipment is underway in Fremont and at Gigafactory 1, where in January, we began production of battery cells for energy storage products, which have the same form-factor as the cells that will be used in Model 3. Later this year, we expect to finalize locations for Gigafactories 3, 4 and possibly 5 (Gigafactory 2 is the Tesla solar plant in New York),” the earnings report said.
Late last year, Musk said that a new gigafactory will be opened in Europe but a final location has yet to be determined. In mid-2016, the tech-head also hinted that China and India could get their own gigafactories.