Tesla, through an email sent directly to current customers' emails, released invites to the opening of their Gigafactory, which will be held on the night of July 29. The factory, located in Reno, will manufacture batteries for the company's electric cars of the future.
Tesla is hoping that through the construction of this factory and the mass production of batteries, costs will be minimized by at least one third. This alone will significantly decrease the price of Tesla's electric cars.
According to Market Watch, construction on the factory began in June 2014 and is expected to reach full production capacity by 2020. Tesla is spending at least $5 billion to construct the Gigafactory. It will be as big as 5.8 million square feet and is slated to double the production capacity of the lithium-ion battery worldwide.
Other than batteries for its electric cars, the Tesla Gigafactory will be churning out stationary batteries, which store solar power for homes and businesses. These stationary batteries store solar energy in the evening and improve the management of power grids and are already being produced in the Reno factory.
At the end of May, the factory was only 14% finished, Fortune has reported. As such, the publication believes that Tesla will not be ready for their grand opening as planned. However, the company has been hosting smaller events in areas of the factory which are already fully constructed. Less than three months ago, Tesla and SolarCity hosted an event centered on the future of solar power for the legislators of Nevada.
Tesla's upcoming Model 3 will reportedly be cheaper than its Model S and Model X predecessors, which sold for around $80,000 to $150,000. At $35,000, the Model 3 is already racking up reservations - as many as 400,000.
In order to meet its customers' demands, Tesla has committed to speed up production of the unit. Just this week, Tesla raised another $1.7 billion in a follow-on offering that should fund the necessary acceleration of production.
