Tesla Motors, according to the Wall Street Journal, is "scrambling" to complete the construction of its $5 billion Gigafactory years before the expected date to be able to meet the expected demand for the company's Model 3 electric vehicle.
The electric vehicle manufacturer has doubled the number of workers on the construction of the massive factory, which is located on more than 3,000 acres of land near Reno, Nevada. There are now 1,000 workers on site, building the factory seven days a week with two shifts.
Tesla Motors is looking to have the Gigafactory up and running to manufacture lithium-ion cells by late this year, in advance of the planned launch in 2017 of the $35,000 Model 3 electric vehicle. The sedan, which features a base price of about half compared with the Model S, saw strong demand upon the opening of reservations earlier in the year.
The overwhelming demand for the Model 3 also saw Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk move the company's sales target of 500,000 units a full two years forward to 2018.
"We have to be ready with cell and pack production well ahead of vehicle production," said Tesla co-founder and chief technical officer JB Straubel, who confirmed the acceleration of the construction of the Gigafactory and the ramp up of the production of battery cells at the site.
The Gigafactory, however, will not solely be focused on the production of lithium-ion batteries for the Model 3, as Musk said that it will also be providing batteries for new types of vehicles that the company is planning to develop.
Tesla Motors recently raised funding of $1.7 billion in a stock offering, which will be used to speed up the production of batteries for electric vehicles, which is expected to decrease the associated cost of the components.
Currently, the size of the Gigafactory is a mere one-sixth of what its final size is expected to be. Already finished, however, is a four-story structure containing floor space of 1.9 million square feet where battery packs for the energy storage business of Tesla Motors are being built.
Recent photos of the Gigafactory that surfaced in May revealed that the facility was 14 percent finished, and that it will be constructed in sections to allow battery production to commence even before the entire Gigafactory is completed.
Musk recently shared the master plan of Tesla Motors, which will add new vehicle categories and a car-sharing platform to the company's business. Musk said that projects for heavy-duty trucks and urban transportation are in the starting stages of development while underlining the company's commitment to autonomous driving.
