On Tuesday, Tesla announced that it is investing $3.6 billion to expand its Nevada Gigafactory to accommodate the mass production of its Semi truck and next-generation batteries.
Two new facilities with over 4 million square feet of manufacturing space will be added to the Reno-area complex.
The automaker said 3,000 new jobs would be created by the project.
The powerwall energy storage system, which produces electric motors, batteries and the Powerwall energy storage system, employs over 7,000 people today.
Thank you for believing in Nevada, Tesla! Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo took office on January 2 and visited the Sparks, Nevada facility on Tuesday.
In December, Tesla delivered the first of its new Semi trucks to PepsiCo, five years after it was first unveiled as a concept. The vehicles were built on a pilot production line that is not yet designed for mass manufacturing.
A PepsiCo spokeswoman told FOX Business in December that the company expects to deliver 36 trucks by the end of 2022, though Tesla hasn't said how many have been built to date.
Exact pricing for the Semi, which qualifies for a $40,000 federal tax credit, has not been announced, and Tesla hasn't said if any other customers have yet to receive trucks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the third quarter of earnings that it is aiming to be manufacturing the vehicles at a rate of 50,000 annually by the year 2024.
The new batteries are designed around a cell Tesla called the 4680, which was designed to have a higher capacity and be cheaper to make than the design it is replacing. They are currently being produced in low volumes in other locations and are installed in a version of the Tesla Model Y that is assembled in Texas.
The Nevada battery facility will have a capacity of 100 GWh of cell output, enough to support the production of 1.5 million light vehicles, according to Tesla.