Tesla and Panasonic are expected to soon significantly increase battery production at the Gigafactory in Nevada in order to produce not only batteries for the Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2, but also for the Model 3.

Panasonic will hold a hiring event in Reno this week as it seeks to hire 2,000 workers at the battery plant this year alone.

Local news reported on the event:

“The hiring is Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Regional Public Safety Training Center at 5190 Spectrum Blvd. in Reno. Panasonic plans to hire 2,000 people this year to make batteries for the Tesla Model 3 at the Gigafactory located east of Sparks. “

The Japanese electronic giant currently lists 36 jobs at the Gigafactory, most of them having to do with production, but it is expected to ramp up hiring alongside Tesla’s ramp up of Model 3 production.

Tesla says that it is adding hundreds more every month and itself lists over 100 jobs at the Gigafactory at the moment. It currently employs over 1,000 full-time employees. Its manufacturing partners on location also employ hundreds more, like a German battery can maker, H&T Battery Components, who expect to employ over 100 employees at the Gigafactory.

It’s still only a fraction of the more than 10,000 employees that are expected to work at the plant once it reaches full production of 150 GWh of battery packs output, which is expected in 2020 according to the company.

If Tesla sticks to its plan to produce ~80,000 Model 3 vehicles by the end of the year, the Gigafactory will have to reach an output of over 5 GWh for the Model 3 alone – without accounting for the stationary energy storage and the Model S/X, which are expected to switch from the 18650 cells manufactured by Panasonic in Japan to the 2170 cells manufactured at the Gigafactory 1.

These hiring events represent one of the first steps to reach those production levels.

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