Pro Weekly: The Red Wave on Our Gigafactory Database

Two years ago, we launched our Gigafactory Database to help readers track the progress of more than 50 proposed factories to make batteries for electric vehicles. The database arrived amid surging optimism about the transition to EVs: The U.S. government had enacted subsidies and tax credits for making and buying EVs, and automakers were promising dozens of new models by 2025. 

Today, the outlook is very different. Demand for EVs outside China has not grown as rapidly as automakers hoped, prompting many to delay or cancel planned new models. New battery chemistries and technologies have proved difficult to manufacture as cheaply as anticipated—or at all. As a result, many of the 71 factories now in our database may never be built or will operate at a small fraction of their planned capacity.