Tesla Motors announced Wednesday it will build a factory in the Nevada desert that will produce enough batteries to power a half-million vehicles by the end of this decade. The facilty will cost $5 billion and employ 6,500 people. The company is trying to widen the customer base for its cars, which start at $35,000 and can run for 200 miles on a single charge. Demand is small at the moment but growing, with Tesla reporting selling 40,000 fully electric cars this year, up 35 percent from a year ago.
