6 Interesting Facts About the Tesla GigaFactory

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Tesla Giga Nevada is a lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle factory in Nevada, US State. The facility, located outside Reno, is owned and operated by Tesla, Inc., and supplies the battery packs for its electric vehicles.

See below six curiosities about the Tesla gigafactory.

Bigger than the Vatican

Vatican City is smaller than the gigafactory. The total land area of the Catholic Church's headquarters is 44 hectares. The area occupied by the Tesla plant is about 20% larger than that of Vatican City.

In terms of built area, the numbers are even more frightening. According to information from Bloomberg, the gigafactory has a total area of 1.3 km² since some areas have different levels. With that, it will be the second-largest construction in the world, second only to a Boeing factory, which is also located in the USA.

Not so small details

Elon Musk seems to be part of the Steve Jobs school of details. The first detail is the shape of the factory. It will not be square, but diamond shaped. With this, the explanation is that it is necessary to transport less land, causing less environmental impact.
The second detail is even more interesting. The factory is aligned with the north of planet Earth. There are two reasons for this choice. The first is that this will facilitate the positioning of autonomous GPS-oriented machines. Another reason, quite curious, is that this will allow better distribution and movement of the solar panels on the factory roof.

It's revolutionary

The gigafactory is an essential part of Elon Musk's view of Tesla and the electric power revolution. There, batteries for the Model 3 and for domestic installations will be manufactured. With scale production, the cost of manufacturing a Model 3 (the most affordable car ever announced by Tesla) is expected to fall, helping to popularize electric vehicles.
The decrease in production costs will also come thanks to less waste and centralized production under one roof. The company estimates that by 2020 end, it will cost 30% less to produce Model 3 batteries and, consequently, a lower cost to produce the car as well.
Model 3 was designed by Musk to cause a small revolution in the automobile market. He believes that with a cheaper vehicle, consumers will finally be able to have an electric car, reducing the emission of pollutants generated by the burning of fuels.

Chemical meetings

Visit an office in a Silicon Valley company, and you will see that the meeting rooms are named after witty names. Tesla's gigafactory is no different — ok, maybe a little. According to Bloomberg, what is most unique is that each room will be named after a chemical element. Among them will be lithium (elements from which batteries are made), cobalt, nickel, among others.

Environmentally Friendly

Something impressive is that the plant will be able to generate all the energy it will need to operate. The roof of the building will be covered by solar panels. Other sources will be geothermal and wind.
The company also says that all materials can be recycled within the factory.

Earthquake-proof

One of the concerns during the design was to make construction earthquake-proof. To do this, Tesla spent $ 16 million, according to the Reno-Gazette newspaper.
For this, the gigafactory has four different structures that are supported on four different foundations. This information was taken from construction specifications.