Tesla (TSLA) is working hard to finish construction on its Gigafactory by the end of 2016, slashing years off of its original timeline.
The company announced the launch of its Model 3 sedan in March, and Tesla wants the Gigafactory to be ready early enough to keep up with the high demand for the vehicle, the Wall Street Journal reports. The base price for the sedan is $35,000, approximately half that of the Model S.
The factory is being built on 3,000 acres of Nevada land, and construction began about two years ago.
Tesla has doubled the number of people constructing the factory, reaching 1,000 workers. Construction goes on seven days a week, with two shifts each day. The size of the current building is less than 20% of what the final outcome is expected to be. The Gigafactory will be one of the only U.S. sites of lithium-ion battery production. Nearly all lithium-ion batteries are currently produced in Asia.
“We have to be ready with cell and pack production well ahead of vehicle production,” Tesla co-founder and chief technical officer J.B. Straubel told the Journal. “We’re accelerating our construction plans and accelerating our planned ramp up of cell production.”
Additionally, the roof of the Gigafactory will be covered in solar panels made by SolarCity (SCTY), another company of which Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the chairman and biggest shareholder. He has recently suggested that the two companies merge.
Tesla could not immediately be reached for comment.
Correction (July 26, 2016 7:34 a.m. EDT): A previous version of this story stated Tesla was working to finish construction on the Gigafactory by 2017. It has been updated and corrected to reflect new information from the Wall Street Journal report.
