Tesla Motors Close to Announcing Gigafactory Partners

Writing for Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, analyst Simon Moores reported that the construction of Tesla Motors Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Nevada-based gigafactory is “up to one year ahead of schedule as preparation for the site continued in Q4 2014 at an accelerated pace.”

The company should start making batteries at the facility within the next two years.

As quoted in the market news:

Tesla also explained that it was close to announcing other partners to add to its agreement with Panasonic in September.

‘Additional Gigafactory partners will be finalised shortly to create a fully integrated industrial complex,’ Tesla explained.

‘Although planning discussions with production and supply chain partners continue to progress well, to date we have not formalised any agreements with any other partners.’

The key question for Benchmark Notes readers is whether that means raw material partners and those companies that will supply graphite, lithium and cobalt to the Gigafactory.

Click here to read the full Benchmark Mineral Intelligence report.