http://www.fudzilla.com/news/43551-t...tories-in-2017

In a TED talk published a few days ago, Tesla CEO Elon "it's coming sonn" Musk said that in addition to the lithium-ion battery factory ? or Gigafactory ? under construction in Nevada, the compan will announce locations for up to four more "gigafactories" later this year.

Tesla?s first lithium-ion battery production factory began construction in Reno, Nevada in the summer of 2014 after Panasonic reached a basic agreement with Tesla to invest in a factory estimated at $5 billion. Panasonic would lead the battery cell portion of the manufacturing, while Tesla began limited production of its rechargeable Powerwall and Powerpack energy storage products. In Q1 2016, the company began limited production runs on these units during ongoing construction and as of today, gigafactory 1 is on track in driverless mode to become the largest manufacturing building in the world by footprint.

During an earnings call a few months ago, Elon "Tesla is coming soon" Musk revealed plans to announce two or three more gigafactories in the US by 2017. In a TED Talk given in Vancouver last week, he outlined the progress made on the current gigafactory, noting its overall ?diamond shape? and its alignment with true north along the geographic pole. According to the recent transcript, Musk says the company will announce locations for somewhere between two and four gigafactories later this year, but ?probably four?.