Tesla announced plans Tuesday to build a new $3.5 billion advanced manufacturing facility east of Sparks to build the company's all-electric semi trucks.
The facility, which will be built at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs, according to a statement from the White House.
The company said in a statement the two new factories include a 100 GWh 4680 cell factory which will have capacity to produce enough batteries for 2 million light duty vehicles annually and their first-ever high-volume semi truck factory.
Tesla delivered its first electric semis to PepsiCo late last year. Musk said the trucks have a range per charge of 500 miles (800 kilometers) when pulling an 82,000-pound (37,000-kilo) load. The company plans to ramp up Semi production to make 50,000 trucks in 2024 in North America.
"The manufacturing boom of President Biden’s first two years continues today with Tesla’s announcement that they will invest more than $3.6 billion in battery and electric semi-truck manufacturing in Sparks, Nevada. This announcement is the latest in more than $300 billion in private sector investment in clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing announced since the President took office. It will create more than 3,000 good-paying jobs in Nevada helping America lead in clean energy manufacturing, strengthening our energy security, and ultimately lowering costs for families," said Mitch Landrieu, President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Coordinator.
At an event in November of 2017 unveiling the Tesla Semi, Musk said production would begin in 2019 and the trucks would be able to follow each other autonomously in a convoy. But during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings conference call in October 2022 he said the company’s “Full Self Driving” system is not quite ready to be driverless.
To date, the team at the Gigafactory east of Sparks has produced the following:
- 7.3 billion battery cells (37 GWh+ annually)
- 1.5 million battery packs
- 3.6 million drive units
- 1 million energy modules (14 GWh+ total)