U.S. electric car leader Tesla said on Tuesday (24th) that it will invest more than $3.6 billion in two new factories near the Reno Gigafactory in Nevada, a new factory that will mass produce the long-delayed electric semi-truck ( Semi electric truck), the other will produce the new 4680 car battery.
Reuters reported that the battery factory would be able to produce enough batteries for 2 million light vehicles, including the 4680 model. The 4680 battery is the key to Tesla’s goal of halving the cost of producing batteries by 2030 and increasing production by nearly 100 times.
It is reported that the two plants will employ about 3,000 employees and will be expanded east of the Renault plant. White House Senior Advisor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement on the same day that Tesla will help the United States take a leading position in green energy manufacturing, strengthen American energy security and ultimately reduce household costs.
Tesla’s factories in California and Texas have been working hard to increase production of 4680 cells. Experts say the battery’s dry-coating technology is novel and unproven, so the company faces challenges in mass-producing it to save costs.
On the other hand, the expansion also shows that Tesla has finally begun mass production of electric semi-trailer trucks, which were originally expected to start production in 2019. In December, Tesla delivered the first batch of electric semi-trailer trucks to PepsiCo, but there is no sign of mass production of the model.
Other customers who ordered Tesla’s electric semi-trailer trucks include Brewer Anheuser-Busch (BUD-US), the largest beer brewing company in the United States, United Parcel Service (UPS-US) and Wal-Mart (WMT-US).
Shares of Tesla (TSLA-US) fell 2.03% after hours to $140.97 per share by the time of writing, reversing a 0.1% gain at the close. Tesla will announce its last-quarter earnings after the U.S. stock market closes on Wednesday (25th).
