Construction at Tesla’s battery Gigafactory is far from finished but outspoken chief executive Elon Musk claims the site is already the largest battery producing factory in the world.
Speaking during a recent conference call with bondholders, Musk made the audacious assertion that battery production at the site is higher than any other single factory but refused to disclose just how many Gigawatt hours (GWh) of lithium ion batteries are being built, says Electrek.
What we do know is that as of late June, roughly one-sixth of the Gigafactory was complete and that production of battery cells for the carmaker’s Powerwall and Powerpack commenced in January. Meanwhile, battery production for the Model 3 started in June.
When Tesla first announced the Gigafactory in 2013, it said that the facility would eventually produce more lithium ion batteries than the rest of the world combined. While that may prove true for 2013 figures, by the time production is increased to capacity at the factory, it is unlikely to be the case. As a matter of fact, China wants to increase their current 55 per cent share of global lithium-ion production to 65 per cent in 2021 and intend on easily eclipsing Tesla, Bloomberg reports.
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