Tesla has revealed the location of its next US Gigafactory as the city of Austin, in Texas, where it says work has already begun on what will be a 2,000 acre “ecological paradise.”
Speaking following the company’s Q2 2020 results announcement on Thursday morning (AEST), Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk said the under-construction “Giga Texas” would manufacture Tesla’s much-hyped electric utility, the Cybertruck (or electric ute) as well as the Tesla Semi, and the Models 3 and Y EVs for the eastern half of north America.
Its California operations will continue to build the Model X and Model S cars, as well as Model 3 and Model Y cars for the western market in the US. Another Gigafactory is being built in Berlin (artist’s impression pictured above), adding to the Shanghai Gigafactory in China that is already in operation.
“We’re … very excited to announce that we’re going to be building our next Gigafactory in Texas,” Musk told an investor briefing following the results call.
“It’s going to be right near Austin… five minutes from Austin international airport and 15 minutes from downtown Austin, and it’s about 2,000 acres, and we’re going to make it a factory that’s going to be stunning,”
“It’s right on the Colorado River, so we’re actually going to have a boardwalk, we’ll have a biking-hiking 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.”
The announcement of a new gigafactory for the US was the icing on the cake of a results announcement that marked Tesla’s fourth consecutive profitable quarter – or first full year of profit – despite Coronavirus shut-downs and downturns.
As The Driven editor Giles Parkinson reports here, the stunning result not only beat analyst expectations but also cemented Tesla’s position as the most valuable auto-maker in the world, and highlighted the huge advantage it holds over legacy car makers.
The location of the new gigafactory was not a total surprise, however. It was foreshadowed by a Musk Tweet in early February, questioning whether Texas might make a good spot, and asking followers to weigh in with a “Hell yeah” or a “Nope”.
The “hell yeahs” obviously won the day, and then Austin won the honours for that state.
“We’ve already started construction work on the new facility, some initial construction work, so it’s already underway,” Musk said.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.