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Tesla To Build Large-Scale Battery Factory

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

NPR's business news begins with a change of batteries.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREENE: Tesla announced, yesterday, plans to invest $2 billion to build a large scale battery factory. It's still deciding on a locale, but word has it it will be somewhere in the American southwest. The California-based electric automaker is looking for partners to invest another $3 billion into the factory.

Tesla is known for its high-end luxury cars. They cost somewhere from $70,000 to $200,000. The company says it needs the factory to produce batteries faster and cheaper in order to build an electric car for mass market - one that can be sold for under $40,000.

Tesla's stock shot up this week after an endorsement from Consumer Reports, which named the company's Model S the best overall vehicle of 2014. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.