Tesla employees have confirmed that the company has produced its 1 millionth battery pack at Gigafactory Nevada.
Gigafactory Nevada was somewhat of a novel idea when it was first deployed.
The plan was to build a giant factory in partnership with Panasonic, who would build battery cells, and Tesla would use those cells to build battery packs for its products at the same factory.
The most interesting aspect was the scale. Tesla planned for more than 100 GWh of battery production at the factory.
As the factory started to come together, the plans changed. Gigafactory Nevada is still only about 30% of the planned overall size, but Tesla and Panasonic found ways to optimize production within that space.
Panasonic produces 2170 battery cells, and Tesla produces battery packs for Model 3, Model Y, Powerwall, Powerpacks, Megapacks, and drivetrains for its EV lineup.
Tesla hasn’t updated the public on the production capacity at Gigafactory Nevada in a while, but we have now seen an interesting data point.
Earlier this month, Tesla produced its 1 millionth pack at the factory, according to several posts by employees.
Frank Korshoff, production lead at Gigafactory Nevada, shared this image on Linkedin:
The production lead wrote about the accomplishment:
A little late to the fest, but after almost 3 years working at Gigafactory 1, I got to throw my name on the 1,000,000th pack produced! So proud of everyone at the factory that had a part in achieving this goal!
It appears that they are specifically talking about Model 3/Y battery packs, which was ramped up over the last four years.
Considering Tesla discloses a production capacity of 500,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles at Gigafactory Fremont, it would mean that Tesla roughly has the capacity to produce a half million battery packs per year at Gigafactory Nevada.
Tesla also produces Model 3/Y battery packs at Gigafactory Shanghai, and it plans to add pack production at Gigafactory Texas and Berlin.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
