We need to use the Moon for all kinds of industries, Water, for rocket fuel, and oxygen to breath. The lunar soil, for mining Thorium, for Nuclear electrical power, materials to build lunar colony structures out of, and of course telescopes, to see what is out in space.

Put telescopes on the far side of the Moon

Plans to return to the Moon are getting serious. Last month, US President Donald Trump declared that the next time US astronauts blast off, they will be headed to our rocky satellite. In September, the European Space Agency made its strongest call yet for the installation of a permanent, human-inhabited village at the lunar southern pole.

 From article, (Plans to return to the Moon are getting serious. Last month, US President Donald Trump declared that the next time US astronauts blast off, they will be headed to our rocky satellite. In September, the European Space Agency made its strongest call yet for the installation of a permanent, human-inhabited village at the lunar southern pole. China’s National Space Administration is pursuing a human outpost there, among other lunar projects, and private entrepreneurs are enthusiastic about mining minerals on the Moon and making rocket fuel for further space exploration.

But these initiatives are more technical and economic than scientific. Unless we start planning now, they will lack an exceptional asset — a lunar radio telescope. This would be uniquely poised to answer one of humanity’s most profound questions: what are our cosmic origins?

A radio array able to capture these data would probably use millions of simple radio antennas deployed over an area a hundred kilometres across on the Moon’s far side, operated by humans and robots. Infrared telescopes of unprecedented scale could be built in cold craters near the lunar south pole, in permanent shadow where temperatures as low as 30 kelvin have been measured. With no atmosphere to absorb radiation and block signals, Moon-based scopes could yield fantastic images of exoplanets and the oldest galaxies in the Universe. Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station, launcher included, as guides, I estimate that all these telescopes would cost no more than 5% of other planned lunar operations.)

A Hydrogen Economy makes sense for supplanting Natural gas for Heating, and Electrical energy storage within a small country. But for farther distances you may have to turn to an Ammonia economy.

Missing link for solar hydrogen is... ammonia?

Ammonia (NH3) is key to enabling a solar hydrogen (H2) future, says a prominent Australian researcher.

From article, (Ammonia (NH3) is key to enabling a solar hydrogen (H2) future, says a prominent Australian researcher.

Solar energy could be stored, bottled and shipped globally in existing ammonia infrastructure as a zero carbon liquid fuel, according to Keith Lovegrove, the author or co-author of over 170 research papers and technical reports.

he said that a molecule that actually packs in more hydrogen than hydrogen (H2), holds the greatest potential to unleash a clean hydrogen economy. Ammonia (NH3) bonds together 1 nitrogen atom but 3 hydrogen atoms. "Amazingly enough, there's a greater mass of hydrogen in a liter of liquid ammonia than there is in a liter of liquid hydrogen," Lovegrove explained. "It's counterintuitive, but ammonia is just a better molecule at packing together with itself."

Perhaps, instead of the future H2 economy, we should really be planning for 'the NH3 economy' he suggested. Like hydrogen, with no carbon atoms, ammonia makes an ideal clean liquid fuel, but one with an easier transition.

"I'm personally in favor of using ammonia to transport hydrogen," he said. "You can then turn it into hydrogen when you get there. Or you can even use it directly, because with adapted conventional gas turbines, you can burn ammonia directly."

H2 and NH3 can both store and carry energy, but ammonia is more ideal as an energy carrier, he said. "Ammonia production for fertilizer is one of the world's biggest chemical industries. There's plants all over the world, and ships moving it about on a daily basis, so it's a very standard thing."

Because it is already widely produced and used, with well established distribution and handling procedures, it wouldn't be a difficult transition. When ammonia is burnt as a fuel it simply returns to nitrogen and water. If it leaks into the air, it is easily detected by smell.

Liquid fuels are the largest untapped source for decarbonization. Even if all the electricity in the world was 100% renewable, the entire electricity sector currently accounts for only 20% of global emissions.

Thirty years of trying has not brought the solar hydrogen economy to fruition, mostly because hydrogen entails new infrastructure to transport and store it. Researchers are increasingly looking at ammonia, with shipping and containing infrastructure in place, as a potential carrier.

Ammonia can not only store and ship renewable energy, it can also be made using any renewable source of electricity.

Because Ammonia is simply hydrogen and nitrogen, it can be split chemically from just water (H2O) and air (73% nitrogen) using electricity. Any chemical reaction is basically the exchange of electrons between atoms. Hydrogen (H2) - which does not occur in nature - can be split out of water (H2O) leaving oxygen. In ammonia; NH3, each atom of nitrogen holds three hydrogen atoms.

To chemically rearrange these molecules, readily available electrolysis can be supplied by electricity from any renewable energy source already.

"You can walk up to Siemens for example, and you can buy a multi-megawatt electrolyzer straight away. It's commercially available, so you can just put that onto a PV farm. You can do that tomorrow morning," said Lovegrove.

In any region globally where renewable electricity costs are $30 USD per MWh or less, solar or wind electrolysis would be competitive with natural gas-based ammonia production, which emits 1.7 tons of CO2 per ton and costs between $200 and $600 per ton, according to the IEA: Renewable Energy for Industry.)

Lithium Ion battery that runs on Salt Water?

Army, UMD researchers develop water-based lithium-ion batteries that don't explode

Researchers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the University of Maryland have developed for the first time a lithium-ion battery that uses a water-salt solution as its electrolyte and reaches the 4.0 volt mark desired for household electronics, such as laptop computers, without the fire and explosive risks associated with some commercially available non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries.

From article, (Researchers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the University of Maryland have developed for the first time a lithium-ion battery that uses a water-salt solution as its electrolyte and reaches the 4.0 volt mark desired for household electronics, such as laptop computers, without the fire and explosive risks associated with some commercially available non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries.

Their work appears Sept. 6, 2017, in Joule, Cell Press's new interdisciplinary energy journal.

This technology will bring the Soldiers a "completely safe and flexible Li-ion battery that provides identical energy density as the SOA Li-ion batteries. The batteries will remain safe -- without fire and explosion -- even under severe mechanical abuses," said co-senior author Dr. Kang Xu, ARL fellow who specializes in electrochemistry and materials science.

"In the past, if you wanted high energy, you would choose a non-aqueous lithium-ion battery, but you would have to compromise on safety. If you preferred safety, you could use an aqueous battery such as nickel/metal hydride, but you would have to settle for lower energy," Xu said. "Now, we are showing that you can simultaneously have access to both high energy and high safety."

The research follows a 2015 study in Science journal that produced a similar 3.0 volt battery with an aqueous electrolyte but was stymied from achieving higher voltages by the so-called "cathodic challenge," in which one end of the battery, made from either graphite or lithium metal, is degraded by the aqueous electrolyte. To solve this problem and make the leap from three volts to four, the first author, University of Maryland assistant research scientist Chongyin Yang, designed a new gel polymer electrolyte coating that can be applied to the graphite or lithium anode.

This hydrophobic coating expels water molecules from the vicinity of the electrode surface and then, upon charging for the first time, decomposes and forms a stable interphase -- a thin mixture of breakdown products that separates the solid anode from the liquid electrolyte. This interphase, inspired by a layer generated within non-aqueous batteries, protects the anode from debilitating side reactions. This allows the battery to use desirable anode materials, such as graphite or lithium metal, and achieve better energy density and cycling ability.)

Super computers are being used to find old medicines for other disease, new more powerful battery chemistries, and now, new ways of converting Methane to hydrocarbon fuels.

New catalyst can create hydrocarbon fuels from methane in shale gas - ET EnergyWorld

London: Scientists have developed a platinum and copper alloy catalyst that can convert methane in shale gas into hydrocarbon fuels. Platinum or nickel are known to break the carbon-hydrogen bonds in methane found in shale gas to make hydrocarbon fuels and other useful chemicals.

From article, (London: Scientists have developed a platinum and copper alloy catalyst that can convert methane in shale gas into hydrocarbon fuels. 

Platinum or nickel are known to break the carbon-hydrogen bonds in methane found in shale gas to make hydrocarbon fuels and other useful chemicals. 

However, this process causes 'coking' - the metal becomes coated with a carbon layer rendering it ineffective by blocking reactions from happening at the surface. 

The new alloy catalyst developed by scientists at University College London (UCL) in the UK and Tufts University in the US is resistant to coking, so it retains its activity and requires less energy to break the bonds than other materials. 

Currently, methane reforming processes are extremely energy intense, requiring temperatures of about 900 degrees Celsius. 

This new material could lower this to 400 degrees Celsius, saving energy, researchers said. 

The study, published in the journal Nature Chemistry, demonstrates the benefits of the new highly diluted alloy of platinum in copper - a single atom alloy - in making useful chemicals from small hydrocarbons. 

 "We used supercomputers to model how the reaction happens - the breaking and making of bonds in small molecules on the catalytic alloy surface, and also to predict its performance at large scales," said Professor Michail Stamatakis from UCL. 

"For this, we needed access to hundreds of processors to simulate thousands of reaction events," Stamatakis said.)

Revised flood zone maps for NYC will make people, with federal backed mortgages, buy flood insurance.

New York City in Talks with FEMA to Redraw Flood Zones to Match Climate Change

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and New York City officials are currently in talks about redrawing the city's flood zone maps in accordance with climate change developments for the first time since the 1980s. The last time that the city's Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or FIRMs-which outline areas that are at high risk for flooding-were updated was in 1983, according to the city.

 From article, (The Federal Emergency Management Agency and New York City officials are currently in talks about redrawing the city’s flood zone maps in accordance with climate change developments for the first time since the 1980s.

The last time that the city’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or FIRMs—which outline areas that are at high risk for flooding—were updated was in 1983, according to the city. Those maps are created through a mapping process that considers factors such as topography and the types and strength of storms that have historically affected the region.

Property owners with federally-backed mortgages on buildings in high-risk areas on the maps have to buy flood insurance.

The revisions will assist NYC in making coastlines more resilient and climate ready while ensuring homeowners are not required to purchase more insurance than their current flood risk requires,” Bavishi said in a statement.)

Saving the Wind Power for Later

Orkney project shows potential of hydrogen as a fuel source

Orkney, a sparsely-populated archipelago 10 miles off the northern tip of mainland Scotland, is not an obvious place to go looking for the future. Yet the windswept islands have become one of Britain's foremost centres for innovation in renewable energy - including the use of hydrogen as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.

From article, (A sparsely-populated archipelago 10 miles off the northern tip of mainland Scotland, is not an obvious place to go looking for the future. Yet the windswept islands have become one of Britain’s foremost centres for innovation in renewable energy — including the use of hydrogen as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels. Orkney’s focus on hydrogen stems from its need for a way of storing energy from the islands’ prolific wind and tidal resources, which frequently generate more electricity than the local power grid can accept. A range of public and community investors, from the EU to Orkney Council, have financed an electrolysis machine to turn surplus energy into hydrogen. The process works by splitting water into its component parts — hydrogen and oxygen — with an electric current. The resulting hydrogen is stored as compressed gas to be used at a later date in fuel cells which reverse the electrolysis process to produce electricity. The power is used as a substitute for fossil fuels in ships docked in Kirkwall, capital of Orkney, reducing local pollution and carbon emissions. “If we do not use [surplus wind and tidal power] it just blows or washes past so we may as well do something with it,” says Neil Kermode, managing director of the European Marine Energy Centre, based on Orkney. “We’re trying to take energy out of the sea and use it for things like transport and heat.”

Hydrogen also has wider potential uses as a source of heating in homes and industries. A pilot scheme is planned to substitute hydrogen for methane in the local gas network of Leeds, in northern England, with an aim of cutting carbon emissions from heating by almost three-quarters. Hydrogen will be extracted from existing natural gas supplies and the carbon removed and stored underground. Planners say only minor modifications of existing gas infrastructure and appliances will be required. The scheme aims to be operational in the late-2020s with a view to nationwide rollout if successful.) 

Experimental drug therapies Advocated By Koch brothers

Koch-backed groups urge Congress to pass right-to-try legislation

ASHINGTON - Several deep-pocketed political advocacy groups founded by Charles and David Koch are ramping up their advocacy before Congress on a niche issue: access to experimental drugs. On Monday, several Koch-backed groups, including Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity, launched an ad campaign urging Congress to pass so-called "right-to-try" legislation, which aims to help terminally ill patients access experimental treatments that haven't yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

From article, (Several deep-pocketed political advocacy groups founded by Charles and David Koch are ramping up their advocacy before Congress on a niche issue: access to experimental drugs.

On Monday, several Koch-backed groups, including Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity, launched an ad campaign urging Congress to pass so-called “right-to-try” legislation, which aims to help terminally ill patients access experimental treatments that haven’t yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“We want to make sure that it’s written so it works, and we’ve been evaluating different state laws to see if they’ve even been used,” Walden told STAT, suggesting several state laws had never been used. “If that’s the case, then, what is it we need to do to take care of these patients that have been given basically a fatal diagnosis so that they can access drugs that are in trial that show promise? That is tricky to get right, and if indeed the state laws are not being used very much, then the last thing I want to do is give false hope to families and dying patients that somehow they’ll have a new access when in fact they may not.”)

The money has to come from somewhere. The good thing about electronic toll roads is if the tolls are set just right, people don't even notice them, just like the gas tax.

More States Are Turning to Toll Roads in 2018

Get ready, drivers. With gas tax revenue stagnant and transportation funds scarce, states are turning to toll roads in 2018 to fill treasuries and manage traffic - despite outrage from motorists and questions about the efficiency of tolls.

From article, (Get ready, drivers. With gas tax revenue stagnant and transportation funds scarce, states are turning to toll roads in 2018 to fill treasuries and manage traffic — despite outrage from motorists and questions about the efficiency of tolls.

The full list of new tolls is hard to track, but at least a half-dozen states from Florida to Colorado are slapping tolls on roads that used to be free or building toll-only lanes this year, and many more are expected to do so next year. It all shows how, despite the nation’s relatively robust economy, even the most basic state services — providing roadways, bridges and tunnels — are still being squeezed.

With infrastructure crumbling, budgets teetering on the edge of being in the red in many states, and the growing popularity of fuel-efficient cars, which means gas taxes generate less revenue than they used to, officials are looking to tolls. Giving a boost to the efforts, President Donald Trump’s initial infrastructure proposal also called for widespread use of tolling on interstate highways, which now are limited by federal regulations to certain stretches of road.

Bill Cramer of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association said the lack of funding from gas taxes is “100 percent” of the reason tolls are being imposed or going up. “Local governments are seeing this as a viable and useful option,” Cramer said. “It pays for the road, provides a steady stream of revenue to maintain that road at high quality and safety. And they have been very reluctant to raise the gas tax that would fund those roads.”

Nineteen states have waited a decade or more since last increasing their gas tax rates. Another 13 states have gone at least two decades, and three states — Alaska, Oklahoma and Mississippi — have not increased their gas tax rates since the 1980s, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank that keeps track of fuel taxes. The 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax, which also helps pay for roads, has not been raised since 1993.

“The money for the roads has to come from somewhere,” said Carl Davis, the research director for the institute. “In some cases, tolls are the path of least resistance.”)

Me, "The good thing about toll roads is that if the toll is set just right, motorists don't even notice the toll, and it is a selective tax. If you use the road? You pay for its upkeep. If you don't? No worries. Since you are not driving on it.  You aren't tolled."

At Least He Tried

Elon Musk faces backlash for calling public transport "a pain in the ass"

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has faced criticism from experts after saying that public transport is inaccessible for many and used by serial killers. Musk, who is the founder and CEO of companies Tesla and SpaceX, was described as elitist by transit agency consultant Jarrett Walker, after comments he made during a conference in Long Beach, California, last month.

Me, "I hate to break it too you people. But Elon Musk is right. Our current nmass transportation system, where trains come to each station at a certain time, and are so full of people that sometimes you are stuck rubbing up against people, sucks!
What Elon Musk is saying is there has to be a better way. Think of a mass transit system that picks you up at your door, (Think Uber) avoids traffic by traveling underground, then drops you off almost right outside your company. That is what Elon Musk is proposing. It would be a mix of electric car sharing, fast underground tunnels, and direct drop off. That seems to me to be much better than, driving to a subway station, finding parking, waiting for the train, hoping it is not crowded, getting to your station, then walking to your company.
While the present system works, Elon Musk is just trying to make it better. Kind of like his revolutionary electric cars and his cheap reusable rockets.
Those that are doubters need to keep an open mind. It doesn't hurt for him to try. If he fails, he fails. At last he tried."     

10 Electric Buses added to MTA's fleet with 60 more as an option. Hopefully, the start of many purchases!!

MTA rolls out new electric buses for 3-year pilot program

The MTA is gearing up to modernize its bus fleet and has launched a three-year pilot to test out 10 all-electric buses that not only reduce emissions, but also enhance customer experience by offering modern conveniences like Wi-Fi and USB ports.

From article, (The MTA is gearing up to modernize its bus fleet and has launched a three-year pilot to test out 10 all-electric buses that not only reduce emissions, but also enhance customer experience by offering modern conveniences like Wi-Fi and USB ports.

Following the successful completion of a four-year study of global best practices for electric buses, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the MTA will test out 10 zero-emission buses and possibly order 60 more, given all goes well with the pilot program. (h/t Untapped Cities).

“This new program helps the MTA secure a cleaner and greener future while leveraging the latest in innovative enhancements to push New York’s transit systems into the future,” said Governor Cuomo in a press release.)

New Analysis says that out of 909 exoplanets in 355 multi-planet systems, these planets are the same size to each other and (orbits) are regularly spaced.

Planets around other stars are like peas in a pod

An international research team led by Université de Montréal astrophysicist Lauren Weiss has discovered that exoplanets orbiting the same star tend to have similar sizes and a regular orbital spacing. This pattern, revealed ...

From article, (In this new analysis led by Weiss and published in The Astronomical Journal, the team focused on 909 planets belonging to 355 multi-planet systems. These planets are mostly located between 1,000 and 4,000 light-years away from Earth. Using a statistical analysis, the team found two surprising patterns. They found that exoplanets tend to be the same sizes as their neighbors. If one planet is small, the next planet around that same star is very likely to be small as well, and if one planet is big, the next is likely to be big. They also found that planets orbiting the same star tend to have a regular orbital spacing.

"The planets in a system tend to be the same size and regularly spaced, like peas in a pod. These patterns would not occur if the planet sizes or spacings were drawn at random." explains Weiss.

"The planets in a system tend to be the same size and regularly spaced, like peas in a pod. These patterns would not occur if the planet sizes or spacings were drawn at random." explains Weiss.

The similar sizes and orbital spacing of planets have implications for how most planetary systems form. In classic planet formation theory, planets form in the protoplanetary disk that surrounds a newly formed star. The planets might form in compact configurations with similar sizes and a regular orbital spacing, in a manner similar to the newly observed pattern in exoplanetary systems. However, in our solar system, the inner planets have surprisingly large spacing and diverse sizes. Abundant evidence in the solar system suggests that Jupiter and Saturn disrupted our system's early structure, resulting in the four widely-spaced terrestrial planets we have today. That planets in most systems are still similarly sized and regularly spaced suggests that perhaps they have been mostly undisturbed since their formation.)

China, a powerhouse when it comes to producing Solar Panels, is flooding India, the EU, and USA with cheap panels. While this is good for customers and installers who want solar power cheap, it is hurting the domestic industry. But who do you side with? The customer, and the installer, or the producer?

India mulls 70 per cent safegaurd duty on solar equipment imports

NEW DELHI: India has proposed to levy a 70 per cent safeguard duty on import of solar power equipment from countries like China for 200 days to protect domestic industry from "serious injury".

From article, ( [India:]The Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) has proposed 70% safeguard duty on solar cells and modules imported from China and Malaysia, citing concerns of the domestic industry being damaged on account of increasing solar imports. 

The move comes after a plea was filed by Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) before the DGS claiming that on account of the surge in imports of solar many domestic producers have kept their production facilities almost idle and the heavy losses have crippled the domestic industry and therefore requested for the imposition of a provisional safeguard duty. 

While solar cells are imported from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, a major quantity of the product is being imported from China. The import volumes of solar cells have increased from 1,275 MW in 2014-15 to 9,474 MW in 2017-18 (Annualized). 

This is an increase of 643% in 2017-18 (Annualized) from the base year 2014-15. Moreover, there has been a sudden surge in imports volumes during the first six months of 2017-18 which is 74% of the imports in 2016-17, the report said.

"Critical circumstances exist requiring imposition of provisional Safeguard Duty immediately in order to save the DI from further serious injury which would be difficult to repair, if the application of this Safeguard measure is delayed," the report added. 

While China's exports to India constituted a paltry 1.52% of its total global exports during 2012, this increased to 21.58% during 2016. 

"The trend in import volumes strongly suggests that imports of solar cells are likely to increase in future due to excess capacity in China, export orientation of producers in China and opportunities lost by Chinese producers/exporters in other significant markets like USA and EU which would force such producers / exporters to target India," the report argues.)

Ibuprofen may have a new side effect.

How High Doses of Ibuprofen May Impact Male Infertility

Men who take relatively high doses of ibuprofen may be at increased risk for fertility problems, early research suggests. The small study, which was published yesterday (Jan.

From article, (Men who take relatively high doses of ibuprofen may be at increased risk for fertility problems, early research suggests.

The small study, which was published yesterday (Jan. 8) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that men who took 1,200 milligrams of ibuprofen a day for six weeks developed a hormonal condition that is linked with reproductive problems.

The study involved 31 men (ages 18 to 35) who were randomly assigned to take ibuprofen (two doses of 600 mg each) or a placebo every day for six weeks.

The researchers found that, compared with the placebo group, the men who took ibuprofen experienced a 23 percent increase in levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) — a hormone that's secreted by the pituitary gland and stimulates the production of testosterone — after two weeks. Higher-than-normal levels of luteinizing hormone can indicate a problem with the testes, according to the National Institutes of Health.

However, despite the change in LH levels, the men's testosterone levels didn't change. This indicates that they had developed a condition called "compensated hypogonadism," which happens when testosterone production is reduced, but the body is able to compensate by increasing LH levels, the researchers said.

Compensated hypogonadism is typically found in older men, and it is linked with impaired fertility, according to the study.)

Me, "This does not mean men should stop using Ibuprofen. It means if you're trying to get your wife pregnant? You should avoid using this drug until after she is. What it also means is that there may be a lot of approved, chemicals out there, that could be affecting human reproduction. Its basically buyer beware. For every good result of a med, there could be a bad result too."

Panasonic is in a very good company position. It is ramping up production of Solar cells. Since it will make the solar cells in the U.S., it will not be affected negatively by a possible Trump tariff on Solar Imports. Also, Its Electric Car Battery business is taking off. What more could you want?

Panasonic Ramps Up Solar Cell Production at Tesla's Buffalo Gigafactory

In December 2016, Panasonic and Tesla finalized an agreement to begin manufacturing solar PV cells and modules at the "Gigafactory 2" in Buffalo, New York. Under the arrangement, Panasonic agreed to cover the capital costs associated with the factory and Tesla agreed to purchase Panasonic's custom manufactured solar products.

From article, (Last summer, Tesla CTO JB Straubel said solar roof production at Gigafactory 2 would ramp up “in a substantial way” by the end of 2017, and increased the company's goal to achieve 2 gigawatts of solar panel capacity per year. But as the new year arrived, the status of Tesla's solar tile production was still murky.

Tesla confirmed today, however, that solar roof manufacturing began in Buffalo in December. The company also said that it is now starting Solar Roof Textured and Smooth installations for non-employee homeowners.

Panasonic’s cell manufacturing business in Buffalo is one of the few examples of solar cell manufacturing taking place in the U.S. and certainly the most recent cell production facility to launch in the country. That’s interesting in the context of the Section 201 solar trade case.

Panasonic’s two biggest high-efficiency solar panel competitors, SunPower and LG, both manufacture abroad, which means they could be subject to new import tariffs, depending on how President Trump rules on the Section 201 case on January 26. When asked if Panasonic would sell its tariff-free cells to companies other than Tesla, Fannon said: “In the best of all worlds, if we could satisfy everything Tesla wants, yes.”

As production at Gigafactory 2 increases, so will employment. In October, Panasonic employed 182 people at the Buffalo factory. By the end of the year, that number nearly doubled to more than 300. In a few weeks' time, if everything stays on track, “We will be cranking up mass production and nearly doubling that employment number again,” said Fannon.

Employment numbers are important because they’re tied to funding for the Gigafactory 2. New York state committed $750 million to building and outfitting the 1.2-million-square-foot facility on the condition that the factory create more than 1,460 jobs in the Buffalo area by the time it's fully operational.

According to Tesla, there are roughly 500 employees at the Gigafactory 2 today.

Last year at CES, Panasonic and Tesla announced that battery production had officially kicked off at the Gigafactory outside of Reno. But the year was marred by delays, which caused Tesla to miss its production targets for the Model 3. The battery module assembly line was cited as the primary constraint due to the complexity of the module design and the automated manufacturing process.

Last fall, Panasonic executives said they were confident the bottlenecks were nearly worked out. The problem, however, seems to lie more with Tesla, which is in charge of packing Panasonic’s battery cells into modules and the modules into packs. CEO Elon Musk recently camped out on the roof of the Gigafactory while working through production issues.

Panasonic already supplies batteries for Toyota’s Prius, “and now we’re teaming up with Toyota to explore the future of EV battery technology,” said Panasonic North America Chairman & CEO Thomas Gebhardt, speaking at CES this week.

“The initial focus of this partnership is on the existing lithium-ion technology,” he said. “But we also intend to explore solid-state battery technology, which could become the next-generation technology for electric vehicles.”)