The electric car company Tesla announced that it is going to build a $5 billion battery factory in the United States. Candidates for the location of the factory are Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are among the states. The finished batteries would be shipped to Tesla’s assembly plant in Fremont, California. The factory will cover 500 to 1000 acres and employ up to 6,500 people.

I predict that in about ten years from now, the greatest contribution of Tesla will not have been the manufacture of a new type of car, even though that’s how they make all their headlines today. Tesla’s biggest contribution will be the advance of battery technology, which will fuel (pun intended) many of our devices besides cars and trains. New battery technology is ever more critical on our way to energy independence and, more importantly, the advance of totally renewable energy.

Having more efficient, less expensive capability to store energy is paramount to our effort to cut ourselves off from fossil fuels.

Go Tesla!