Tesla is one of the biggest automaker and energy storage company in the US, with a mission focus “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” So far, the company has been quite successful in building people’s trust on electric vehicles, but the company aims for a higher purpose of providing the entire world with sustainable energy. The CEO Elon Musk just revealed the firm’s calculations showing that 100 Gigafactories can fully power the planet with sustainable energy.
Tesla is currently working on a Gigafactory in Nevada that will produce lithium ion battery cells in massive numbers, with a purpose to bring down the cost of sustainable energy. Elon Musk was in a conversation with the famous Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, who is also a sustainable energy advocate, where he mentioned the possibility of 100 such factories supplying for the world’s power needs. However, that will be possible only if the companies that are much greater than Tesla fully participate.
During a visit to the Gigafactory Elon Musk mentioned the hurdles to DiCaprio saying:
“The fossil fuel industry is the biggest industry in the world, they have more money and more influence than any other sector, so I mean, the more that there could be some popular uprising against that the better. But I think the scientific fact of the matter is we are unavoidably headed towards some level of harm. So, the sooner we can take action, the less harm will result.”
According to Tesla, the Gigafactory 1 will be producing 35-gigawatt hours of batteries by 2018 which is the equivalent of entire world’s production in the year 2014. Even though the Nevada factory will make a huge difference, it will not be enough to make a difference to the entire world unless more companies take similar steps. “Then collectively, we can accelerate the transition to sustainable energy. And if the government sets the rules to favor sustainable energy, we can get there really quickly,” explained Musk.
The factory has started battery production already in January, but the construction is not complete yet. Once that is complete, it will become world’s biggest building. Initially, it will produce the high performance 2170 cell, jointly designed by Tesla and Panasonic. The cells will power Tesla’s Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy products.
The fossil fuel industry is powerful, and the mission of powering the entire planet with sustainable energy requires significant efforts against the industry. Time will prove how successful Tesla gets achieving its mission.