An overall view of the Tesla Gigafactory seen during a media tour July 26.

AP | AP

Tesla has more than 1,000 workers at the battery factory site in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center in Storey County, according to the head of the governor’s office of economic development.

“They’re hiring 150 to 200 more every month,” Executive Director Steve Hill said during last week’s Senate Finance Committee review of his budget for the coming biennium.

The operation expects to have 3,200 workers by March 2018, he said.

Faraday is a different story, but he’s confident the company is moving forward, he said.

Hill said an electric car company building in Southern Nevada has invested about $160 million so far, purchasing the property at Apex and funding the engineering and utility work there.

He said Faraday has revealed its car, “which is a significant milestone that provides significant value for that company.”

The next is to “manufacture it, get it out the door and sell it,” he said. “The potential value of the company will jump then.”

But instead of moving immediately to build a huge factory, Hill said they’re planning to “phase the construction of their facility” and will break ground this spring on a 650,000 square foot factory that will open in 2018 and be able to make up to 12,000 cars a year.

“Frankly I think it’s a smart strategy,” said Hill.

Eventually, Faraday is supposed to build a 1.6 million square-foot manufacturing plant and another 1.4 million feet in support facilities and offices.

He told the committee in the two previous fiscal years, GOED has brought 5,000 jobs to the state with an average $20.44 hourly wage along with $7 billion in capital investment.

Tesla and Faraday have both received tax credits to move their factories to Nevada. Tesla was voted $1.1 billion in tax breaks, while Faraday received $335 million during special sessions of the Nevada Legislature.