Why Musk Is Building Batteries in the Desert When No One Is Buying
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Tesla’s planned 5-million-square-foot ‘gigafactory’ wouldn’t just be the biggest battery factory in the world. It would be one of the biggest factories in the world, period. But hours before CEO Elon Musk took the podium last week to tout the $5 billion facility came August sales numbers for electric vehicles and a spate of news stories about how U.S. interest for electric cars has stalled.
So what gives? Why would Tesla build capacity for half a million car batteries a year if no one is buying? Four charts below tell the story.