
Tesla's New Gigafactory: Stats in the Construction Permits - the_economist
https://www.inverse.com/article/17433-tesla-s-new-gigafactory-10-mind-boggling-stats-in-the-construction-permits
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maccam94
> The factory itself is 5.8 million square-feet, which, if my math is correct,
> means building the damn thing is costing Tesla $55.6 million per square
> foot.

Your math is incorrect, $332.6 million divided by 5.8 million sqft is
$55.60/sqft.

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schwap
Well, they fixed the math but now unfortunately the sentence is now
ridiculous:

> if my math is correct, means building the damn thing is costing Tesla $55.6
> per square foot. And that’s just the estimated cost of the contracts so far.

Based on a quick look[1] that's a totally average price per square foot for an
industrial building. _AMAZING_.

[1][http://www.brownwegher.com/cost-of-construction-
chart/](http://www.brownwegher.com/cost-of-construction-chart/)

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civilian
Some hilariously bad math right here:

 _> 9\. The whole thing has already cost $322.6 million._

 _> The total cost of the contracts awarded is skyrocketing toward half a
billion dollars (though it has a ways to go to meet that mark). The factory
itself is 5.8 million square-feet, which, if my math is correct, means
building the damn thing is costing Tesla $55.6 million per square foot. And
that’s just the estimated cost of the contracts so far._

$322.6 million / 5.8 million sq-ft => $55.6 per sq-ft -_-

//edit all 3 of the first comments were about the math. Love you guys!

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Retric
"The factory itself is 5.8 million square-feet, which, if my math is correct,
means building the damn thing is costing Tesla $55.6 _million_ per square
foot."

Sigh, I hope this was a joke.

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Shivetya
Really an poor article that just fails on too many levels.

That it should have sufficient solar power to drive production is commendable
but I am curious if they are going to have some onsite storage mechanism as I
assume this is a 24x7 facility.

The amount of materials that have to be brought in by rail road would a
statistic I would find mind boggling. How much water does the plant consume?

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LeifCarrotson
It is a battery factory. They will definitely have some on-site storage
mechanism. :)

~~~
xbmcuser
plus Musk wants to buy solarcity so planning to build the power system
internally. I wonder if they have taken into account the total covering of the
giga factory roof with solar panlels. Actually might produce more electricity
than they need even if they have storage system for 24hr usage

~~~
LeifCarrotson
I doubt it. They will have to charge the batteries they produce, which will be
a lot of energy going out the door.

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Havoc
>batteries, which are more efficient at lower temperatures.

Shouldn't that read less efficient?

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aqzman
Taken in the context of the article, I believe they're talking about how the
chiller room will be used to develop batteries that are more efficient at
lower temperatures.

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univalent
This is a LOT of debt to put on the balance sheet of what is (still) a young
company facing new entrants into the luxury-electric vehicle market segment.

~~~
vvanders
The thing though is Tesla is also aiming at the energy storage part of the
market with has the potential to be much larger.

Assuming their battery technology is competitive there's going to be no
shortage of companies interested in their batteries.

~~~
Gibbon1
True there is a huge potential for growth in the battery market, the electric
car market is likely to grow 10X in five to ten years. From 1% to 10% of total
cars produced. If Tesla is profitable with the factory in Nevada, then they
are setup to build more factories in other locations as well. Quick
estimation, 10 million electric cars per year, $5000 per car in batteries, $50
billion annual sales.

Also the Tesla Model 3 at $35k (before tax incentives, etc) is barely in
luxury vehicle category.

