Tesla’s factories are unique in the way that they get more and more advanced with each iteration. From the Fremont factory to Gigafactory Berlin, Tesla’s facilities are getting progressively more sophisticated. This trend is set to continue with the company’s upcoming Cybertruck Gigafactory, which is poised to be formally announced in the near future.
During the first quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk and CFO Zachary Kirkhorn provided several interesting tidbits about an upcoming factory in the United States. The executives did not disclose what the facility will be used for, though previous tweets from Musk and wide speculation from the EV community suggest that it will be allotted for the production of the Cybertruck, and perhaps even the Semi.
According to Elon Musk, a formal announcement about the upcoming facility will be held as soon as May 2020. If Tesla is unable to meet this timeframe, Musk expects an announcement to be made within the next three months. He also mentioned that there would definitely be more Gigafactories that will be built within the next five years.
“I think we will announce the next Giga possibly as soon as a month. We may not — as soon as next month. This is not a prediction, just saying. That’s — that could happen. It will certainly be within three months and possibly one month. And that would be in the US. So as for how many will be in five years, I’m not — I don’t know right now what that number would be. I guess, several more than there are today. But I’m not sure, what exactly it would be in five years, but some number more than today,” Musk said.
Following Musk’s comments, Kirkhorn added that Tesla’s Gigafactories are getting larger. This is a notable observation, and it is definitely evident as seen in the company’s current projects. Plans for Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai show that the completed facility will be incredibly large, and Gigafactory 4 in Berlin is poised to be even bigger. Based on the CFO’s comments, it appears that the next factory in the US, which is possibly intended for the production of the Cybertruck, will be Tesla’s largest facility yet.
With this in mind, Musk stated that the upcoming facility might be so large, it would probably need to be called the “Terafactory” instead. “It could arguably — it could start being called ‘Tera,'” Musk said. This suggests that the upcoming facility will be absolutely massive, since the “tera” in its name would likely refer to the utilization or production of batteries with terawatt-hours of storage capacity per year. That’s a pretty insane number, though it is something that seems to be in line with Tesla’s overall goal of accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
A new “Terafactory” for Tesla would actually make sense for the Cybertruck’s production facility. Tesla is yet to announce the battery specs of its monster pickup, though its massive size and weight suggests that it will require a large battery pack to run. Apart from this, the facility could also be the possible production site for the Tesla Semi, another vehicle that will also require a massive battery pack. If speculations prove right and Tesla’s next factory will indeed be allotted for the Cybertruck and the Semi, then its “Terafactory” moniker will definitely be well-justified.
