Tesla continues to rapidly expand throughout the world, and despite two new Gigafactories having opened earlier this year, the automaker’s already looking at where to build next. In the long term, it’s difficult to predict how many production facilities Tesla could build, but CEO Elon Musk has his sights set on a high target — as usual.
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Above: A rendering of Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg in Grünheide, Germany. Photo: Tesla
At Tesla’s annual stockholder’s meeting, Musk said he thinks the automaker could eventually build as many as 10-12 Gigafactories throughout the world, as reported by Business Insider. The CEO also mentioned that Tesla could produce up to 20 million electric cars per year by 2030, with each factory outputting between one and a half and two million units per year.
"Ultimately we will end up building, I don't know, probably at least 10 or 12 Gigafactories," Musk said at the shareholder’s meeting, located at Gigafactory Texas. The locations would "really be Gigafactories," according to Musk, who has been met with skepticism about his ambitious figures.
Despite the skepticism, Tesla is already looking to establish its next Gigafactory and Musk says the location could be announced this year. The news also comes after Tesla made Giga Texas and Giga Berlin fully operational this year, so the move to establish its next factory comes fairly quickly on the heels of those.
At the meeting, Musk also asked stockholders to guess where the next Gigafactory would be located. While it’s unclear where the factory will be built as of yet, Musk did give a special note to those who answered Canada.
"I'm getting a lot of Canadas," Musk said in response.
Above: Tesla eyes Canada for next factory. Video: Reuters / YouTube
Tesla also reached three million cars produced just before the stockholder’s meeting, announced Musk. He added that Tesla had only produced 3,000 cars a decade ago, adding that the company may be able to reach 100 million cars produced in the next decade.
Currently, Tesla has U.S. Gigafactories in Fremont, California, Sparks, Nevada, Buffalo, New York, Austin, Texas, and others outside the U.S. in China and Germany. To achieve 10-12 Gigafactories, Tesla would need to build at least three to five new Gigafactories, in addition to the one Musk says the automaker could announce this year.
Compared to legacy automakers, Musk says that Tesla’s manufacturing has a "long-term sustainable advantage" over rivals as the EV industry begins to emerge. Whether Tesla can reach goals of 10-12 Gigafactories is yet to be seen, but if the last few years are any indication of the automaker’s future, it’s certainly not out of the question.
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Source: Business Insider
