Electric car manufacturer Faraday Future broke ground on its $1 billion factory in North Las Vegas on Wednesday.

The Gardena company said it has closed the purchase of the remaining parcels of land it needed to build the 3 million-square-foot factory and is grading the ground before construction. The state-of-the-art facility, which will be partially powered by rooftop solar panels and include a glass wall for customers to see their electric self-driving cars being made, should be completed in 2018.

Nevada is offering Faraday $217 million worth of incentives toward the factory, including infrastructure such as roads, a rail line, and water pipes. The company needs to invest $1 billion into the site and hire at least 4,500 employees over the next 10 years to fully qualify for those incentives.

Despite moving ahead on construction of its factory, Faraday declined to name the launch date for its first self-driving electric car. The firm previously said its first production car would be available for sale in 2018.

“At the moment, we don’t talk about the car-selling date because we want to use the luxury of selling the car when the timing is right,” said Dag Reckhorn, Faraday’s vice president of global manufacturing, adding that the company is aiming for a Tesla-like unveiling.

Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.