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Tesla to double output of electric supercar

CEO Elon Musk has said that Tesla will produce over 60,000 electric cars next year, and that it is also breaking ground on new battery power plants

Zachary Davies Boren
Friday 01 August 2014 22:06 BST
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Tesla Motors could produce up to 100,000 cars in 2015
Tesla Motors could produce up to 100,000 cars in 2015

Tesla Motors, the trendy US electric car manufacturer, will produce 35,000 cars this year and double that in 2015, the company’s CEO Elon Musk has announced.

Tesla expects to produce 100,000 cars in 2015, split evenly between its Model S and Model X

Musk also confirmed that Tesla is partnering with Panasonic to build a large-scale battery power plant in the US called the ‘Gigafactory’, with plans to develop several more.

The $5-billion Gigafactory, which will produce the lithium-ion batteries used by Tesla’s electric vehicles, as well as energy storage packs, will reduce Tesla’s battery costs by 30 per cent.

According to the agreement, Tesla will manage the land, building and utilities whilst Panasonic will manufacture the battery cells.

JB Straubel, Chief Technical Officer and Co-founder of Tesla Motors said: "The Gigafactory represents a fundamental change in the way large-scale battery production can be realized.

Not only does the Gigafactory enable capacity needed for the Tesla Model 3 car but it sets the path for a dramatic reduction in the cost of energy storage across a broad range of applications."

Musk said that increased battery production is vital to Tesla’s vehicle output, and that he expects the company to eventually be able to make 300,000 cards a year.

Tesla also announced that its financial losses had grown to nearly $62 million in the second quarter of 2014.

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