Outside Reno, in Nevada’s high desert, Tesla is building what it says is the world’s largest battery factory. The Gigafactory, as it’s called, will churn out batteries for the company’s electric cars. But it’s also making something new — a battery for the home.
Tucked away in a dusty valley near Sparks, Nev., the Gigafactory is kind of like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory: It’s mysterious, it’s big and few people have been inside.
Actually, “big” may not do it justice.
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We’re looking down at a flat stretch of land where the rest of the Gigafactory — with an estimated price tag of $5 billion — will go.
Like Willy Wonka’s factory, there’s a lot of hype around this place. People have been caught sneaking onto the property to see what Straubel says, at 5.8 million square feet, will be a building with one of the biggest footprints in the world.
“I’m not a huge football fan, but I think it’s on the order of around 100 football fields,” he says.