Earlier this year, Tesla Inc. began work on Gigafactory Texas. The factory will sit on 2,000 acres outside of Austin and create around 5,000 jobs over four years. The company’s recent announcement says May 2021 is the target date for at least some manufacturing to begin there. When asked about the building of a second U.S. factory in Texas, Musk commented that when he asked his employees where they would like to live outside California, the number one answer was Austin.
Tesla: An Ecological Paradise
The way the company is talking, it sounds like Gigafactory Texas will be the new home of cybertruck. Model Y and Model 3 electric vehicles will also be manufactured there. And, it sounds as if the new Tesla Semi, Elon Musk’s alternative semi-truck, will go into production at the facility.
But this is to be no ordinary factory. It’s going to be an attraction open to the public. According to Musk, “It’s about 2,000 acres, and we’re going to make it a factory that is going to be stunning. It’s right on the Colorado River. So we’re actually going to have a boardwalk, where there’ll be a hiking/biking trail. It’s going to basically be an ecological paradise, birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream, and it’ll be open to the public as well. So not closed and only Tesla. So if anyone’s interested in working at Giga Texas with engineering, production, whatever the case may be, please let us know.”
Gigafactory Texas isn’t the only new gigafactory in the works. A facility is also being worked on in Berlin, Germany. That facility will manufacture Tesla electric vehicles, but it will also serve as an engineering hub for future advancements.
HQ to remain in CA, for now
Earlier this year, Musk went to war with local California government. Lockdowns there were preventing his Fremont factory from re-opening. He threatened to move Tesla HQ and all production out of the state. A week later, his factory was allowed to get back to work. No more was said about the company shifting to another area of the country. Then came the Gigafactory Texas and this quote from Musk during an interview with Automotive News, “There’s no question that our headquarters will remain in California for the short term. Long term, we’ll have to wait and see.” Perhaps he’s waiting to see how things go in Texas, or maybe he just likes to keep his options open. So, as he said, we’ll have to wait and see. However, Gov. Abbott stated in an interview with CNBC that Musk revealed he had changed his driver’s license from a California one to a Texas one. Is that a hint?
