Nevada says Tesla Gigafactory on pace to hire 54% more workers than original estimates

Nevada’s executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development was on the speaking circuit again, this time touting that Tesla is poised to exceed projected job creation numbers at the Gigafactory. And by a lot.

“When we originally presented the project to Legislature in 2014, we projected 6,500 jobs on site,” Hill said. “The efficiency that’s being created from a functional standpoint at the facility is actually enabling more employees to be employed on the site.”

In early February, Hill had spoken during a state budget review meeting about Tesla’s expectations to hire 3,200 workers by March, 2018. His more recent comments offer additional good news about the Gigafactory’s role in U.S. job creation.

What is the job picture like out in the Nevada desert for the Tesla Gigafactory, according to Hill?

• The factory now has almost 1,000 permanent employees.
• 90% of these permanent employees are home-grown citizens of Nevada.
• 2,500 additional construction workers are on site.
• 60% of those construction workers are from Nevada.
• The Gigafactory is already producing battery cells, power walls, and battery packs.
• A planned addition to the Gigafactory site is expected to create even more jobs.
• The Gigafactory will be 5 million square feet with five floors of manufacturing when complete.
• The Gigafactory will be the largest manufacturing facility in the world.
• More than 10,000 jobs are now forecast to come out of the Tesla plant.
• Those revised job creation numbers are 54% higher than the initial projections of 6,500 jobs.

Hill’s remarks came at a joint meeting of the Assembly Committee on Taxation and the Senate Committee on Revenue and Economic Development in Carson City. He described how making the factory more efficient has led to more jobs. Initially, Tesla designed the factory to support 35 gigawatt-hours of battery production annually, he said, but six months ago the company increased the projection to 50 GWh capacity. Those increases, Hill said, allows employment in the building to accelerate at a proportional level. “Mr. Musk in their earnings call said that they felt they could produce battery capacity now for 1 million cars, and originally that was 500,000,” Hill said. “So the employment prospects at the site continue to improve.”

The companies under the Tesla network umbrella have consistently created thousands of high paying jobs worldwide. Data indicates that Tesla companies currently employ over 35,000 employees globally, of which 30,000+ are in the U.S. And the Nevada Gigafactory, from all reports, is only going to increase that number. With his role as a Trump adviser and as a constant voice of cleantech innovation, including new approaches to solar energy independence, Elon Musk may be single-handedly creating the alternative energy jobs that so many U.S. citizens want.

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