The cylindrical 2170 cells will be used to power Tesla's energy storage products and the new Model 3 sedan.
Tesla and Panasonic jointly designed the new cells, which are claimed to offer high performance with lowest cost of production.
As per Tesla, by 2018, the factory will produce about 35GWh per year of lithium-ion battery cells.
Tesla has a taken a phased approach in completing the Gigafactory’s construction. It stated that its partners including Panasonic can now start production at the finished sections.
The company, which recently proposed to acquire SolarCity, noted that with ramping up production at the Gigafactory, the cost of the cells can fall significantly in the future, thanks to automation and optimisation of manufacturing processes.
Telsa claimed that its Gigafactory will be the biggest factory building in the world, once its complete. Right now, it is only 30% done. It also stated that in this year alone, it plans to hire several thousand local employees.
During peak production period, the Gigafactory alone could employ about 6500 people and could generate between 20,000 to 30,000 jobs in the surrounding regions.
Recently, Telsa and its long time partner, Panasonic announced that they began solar cell production at their facility in New York. By 2019, the companies plan produce about 1GW of solar cells.
Image: Aerial view of the Gigafactory in Nevada, US. Photo: Courtesy of Tesla Motors.
