Tesla's Gigafactories - Leading Battery Manufacturers in The World

Tesla's Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. Source: Tesla (Creative Commons License).

Most people would say that Tesla’s major achievement would be making insanely fast and affordable electric cars, but the company has enriched the human vocabulary as well. Take, for example, the term the company uses to denote its factories, Gigafactory, which has now become an accepted word for a manufacturing facility.

Musk first coined the term Gigafactory in 2013 to describe a Tesla production facility. Musk went for a word that attracted attention.

What is a Gigafactory? How many does Tesla operate, and what breakthroughs have they contributed to the development of electric cars?

Initially, Gigafactory was applied to factories where Tesla built batteries, with the first one located in Nevada. Batteries in large quantity are often denoted in Gigawatts, which explains how Musk came about the name. He meant it to convey the idea of a large capacity plant for making batteries. In fact, the Nevada plant was conceived to be comparable in size to all other lithium-ion battery plants globally combined 

However, the term has taken on added meaning as they refer to plants where Tesla also builds its cars, making Gigafactory applicable to production facilities that make items related to electric vehicles in large quantities.

Going by that expanded definition of Gigafactory, Tesla has four Gigafactories in the US, one in Sparks, Nevada, and another, an often overlooked one in Buffalo, New York, where Tesla makes solar panels. The third and fourth ones are in Fremont, California, and Austin, Texas.

Outside the US, Tesla operates Giga Shanghai in China, where it makes Model 3’s and Model Y’s, and is nearing the completion of Giga Berlin, where it plans to start production with the Model Y.

There are rumors that other European countries will soon host Gigafactories, with England as one of the leading candidates.

Tesla’s Gigafactories will soon be producing the new 4680 batteries that represent numerous improvements over the current batteries Tesla puts in its cars. They weigh less, have higher energy densities, are safer to operate and cost less to make. Tesla is also switching to battery materials that eliminate cobalt, known for its toxicity from the batteries in the Standard Range versions of its cars.

Tesla’s Gigafactories will soon be producing the new 4680 batteries that represent numerous improvements over the current batteries Tesla puts in its cars. They weigh less, have higher energy densities, are safer to operate and cost less to make. 

Interestingly, other companies now use the term Gigafactories, including Tesla competitors. For example, Northvolt, a Swedish battery company formed by a former Tesla executive, plans to build a Gigafactory in Europe to produce 32 GWh of electric vehicle batteries. Similarly, the PSA Group has revealed it wants to construct two Gigafactories in Europe, while in India, Reliance Industries will build four Gigafactories to combat the growing competition within the car and battery manufacturing industry.