这可能是特斯拉汽车公司下过最大的赌注：一个耗资50亿美元的大工厂将在内华达州的沙漠中建成，几乎可以使世界锂电池的产量翻番。

　　Tesla officially opened its Gigafactory last Tuesday, a little more than two years after construction began. The factory is about 14 percent complete but when it's finished, it will be about 10 million square feet, or about the size of 262 NFL football fields. That will make it one of the largest buildings in the world.

　　在建厂两年多之后，特斯拉于上周二正式公开了这一超级工厂。该工厂现在只建好了14％左右，但当全部完工时，将占地约1000万平方英尺，差不多是262个国家橄榄球联盟球场的大小。这将使其成为世界上最大的建筑物之一。

　　The factory is key to the future of Palo Alto, California-based Tesla. The 13-year-old electric car company, which has never made a full-year profit. It also runs Tesla Powerwall, a solar energy storage business for homes and businesses.

　　该工厂对总部位于加州帕洛阿尔托的特斯拉的未来来说非常关键。这家成立13年的电动汽车公司从未获得过全年盈利。此外，该公司也经营“特斯拉Powerwall”电池，这是一种供家用或者商用的太阳能存储业务。

　　特斯拉在沙漠中建立超级工厂 动力电池成本或下降The company says making its own lithium-ion batteries at the scale the Gigafactory will allow will reduce its battery costs by more than a third.

　　该公司表示，将以超级工厂的规模生产自有锂电池，这样可以使电池成本降低超过三分之一。

　　Tesla unveiled the Model 3 at the end of March. Within a week, more than 325,000 people had put down a $1,000 deposit to reserve the car. After seeing that level of demand, Tesla moved its production plans forward. The company now says it will make 500,000 vehicles per year by 2018.

　　特斯拉在今年三月底推出了Model 3。一周之内已经有超过32.5万人交了1000美元的订金来预订该车。看到如此级别的需求后，特斯拉加快了其生产计划。该公司表示，到2018年，每年将生产50万辆车。

　　To meet that goal, Gigafactory construction is proceeding at a furious pace. Inside the factory, Tesla's partner, Panasonic Corp., is installing machines in sealed, humidity-controlled rooms that will start making battery cells before the end of this year.

　　为了达到这一目标，超级工厂继续以惊人的速度进行着建设工作。在工厂内部，特斯拉的合作伙伴松下公司正在控制湿度的密封房间里安装机器，这些机器将在今年年底前开始生产电池。

　　Tesla says the factory will be producing 35 gigawatt hours of batteries by 2018. That's the equivalent to the entire world's production in 2014. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the factory has the capacity to produce 150 gigawatt hours if it needs to.

　　特斯拉方面表示，到2018年，工厂将能够生产35千兆瓦时的电池，这相当于整个世界在2014年的总产量。特斯拉首席执行官伊隆·马斯克表示，如有需要，工厂产能可以达到150千兆瓦时。

　　Analysts say bringing battery production in-house, instead of buying batteries like General Motors Co. and other major automakers do, can help bring down costs, but also leaves Tesla exposed. If the Model 3 is delayed, for example, Tesla will have extra batteries on its hands and no way to recoup its costs.

　　分析人士表示，自产电池（而不是像通用汽车公司和其他主要汽车制造商那样购买电池）可以帮助降低成本，但也会让特斯拉过于暴露。比如，如果Model 3车型延迟上市，特斯拉手中将会积压很多电池，并且没有办法收回成本。

　　"They could be left with a lot of excess capacity in the near term," said Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst with Navigant Research. Abuelsamid says there's also the possibility that advances in battery technology in the longer term could force Tesla to make expensive new investments.

　　Navigant研究所的分析师山姆·阿伯萨米德表示：“他们可能会在短期内留下很多过剩产能。” 阿伯萨米德认为，电池技术的长期进步可能会迫使特斯拉投资昂贵的新项目。