Hundreds of battery-producing "gigafactories" will be needed as the world switches to driving electric cars, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at a conference on Wednesday.
The growing startup, which has been expanding business into Asia and Europe as well, is planning to build the largest battery plant in the world somewhere in the southwest U.S., with groundbreaking scheduled for this summer.
Speaking at the annual World Energy Innovation Forum, Musk said that hundreds more such factories will be built to produce electric-car batteries, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
Tesla's ambitious plan is to reduce the cost of lithium-ion batteries by at least 30 percent and eventually, even more.
"I think we can probably do better than 30 percent," Musk said Wednesday at the company's Fremont, Calif., plant, as quoted by Businessweek. When more electric batteries are needed, "there's going to need to be lots of gigafactories. Just to supply auto demand you need 200 gigafactories," he said.
Tesla could break ground for the new plant as soon as June and is reportedly looking at Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas as option. The company plans to begin the $5 billion process at two different sites to make sure everything is in place.
The new plant is expected to employ 6,500 workers, making it a boon to whichever state becomes its location. While the groundbreaking is expected to begin soon, Tesla still hasn't named the winning spot.
But the company seems to be taking its time with big projects, recently delaying production for the upcoming Model X again. The new electric model, which should have all-wheel drive and a roomy interior, is now expected to hit showrooms in the second quarter of next year.
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