Tesla Is Building a $5-Billion Gigafactory Powered By Renewable Energy For Their Electric Cars

Tesla Motors is known for introducing electric vehicles that forward the idea of sustainable transportation around the world. But aside from producing eco-friendly vehicles, they have extended their drive to protect the environment by proposing a one-of-a-kind lithium ion battery plant.

This building will be a $5-billion Gigafactory which will be entirely powered by renewable energy.

After much anticipation, Tesla recently revealed the prototype of their Tesla Model 3, an electric car which they claim can compete with the speed of a normal sedan. 

According to its specifications, it can go from 0 to 60 kph in less than six seconds. Model 3 can accommodate five passengers and is said to be equipped with high standard safety features which are yet to be revealed.

The company is currently accepting pre-orders of this super electric car, but they wouldn't be releasing the vehicles until 2017. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, said in a tweet that they received a total of 232,000 pre-orders from its launch on March 31 until April 2. And the numbers are continuously piling up.

But building thousands of these electric cars is no easy task. What could possibly be the best way to build eco-friendly cars? Well, Tesla went by the best decision and invested in a $5-billion eco-friendly Gigafactory to meet their demand. 

"The Tesla Gigafactory was born of necessity and will supply enough batteries to support our projected vehicle demand," said a statement released by Tesla.

Tesla is looking at producing 500,000 lithium ion batteries per year in the future, that's why a Gigafactory is inevitable. These lithium ion batteries will power the new Model 3 electric car. 

Once the Gigafactory is operational, they can produce the biggest number of lithium ion batteries worldwide on a yearly basis. 

The International Business Times said that this factory "will eventually make more lithium ion batteries in a year than the entire planet did in 2013."

The Gigafactory is located just outside Sparks, Nevada. Construction began in 2014 and the company is planning to start using it by 2017. By 2020, they are projecting a fully functional Gigafactory. 

They coined the name "Gigafactory" based on their projected annual battery production. "Giga is a unit of measurement that represents billions," said Tesla.

It'll take thousands of solar power to successfully fuel the Gigafactory with renewable energy. Based on a report, the roof of the factory will entirely be covered with solar panels. It also said that the mega-structure costs about the same as the Apple Campus 2, which is also set to open in 2017.

So far, the construction of the billion-dollar eco-friendly factory is looking good. Based on the drone footage by TechInsider, the solar panels are ready to be installed on the roofing system. They also reported that the first phase of the roof alone costs $4.6 million and the foundation costs $16 million.

Tesla is receiving praise from various groups for initiating a "sustainable transportation" system and at the same time, by being responsible producers by building a renewable-energy-powered plant. 

Other companies and large-scale factories should look at this business model to further protect the environment while producing goods for consumers.