AUSTIN, TEXAS — Tesla has filed plans with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration (TDLR) to spend more than $775 million to expand Giga Texas, an automotive production plant in Austin. The filings indicate plans to construct cathode and drive unit manufacturing centers, a battery cell test lab and manufacturing center and a die shop.
The expansion of Giga Texas is the company’s largest construction plan since the $5.5 billion for development of Giga Berlin in Germany last year, according to Reuters.
Construction began on Giga Texas in July 2020, with initial deliveries of vehicles taking place at a “Cyber Rodeo” event on April 7, 2022. Tesla relocated its headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin in 2021.
Tesla’s official Giga Texas website states that the plant currently features over 10 million square feet of factory floor on a 2,500-acre site along the Texas Colorado River. The production plant currently serves as the U.S. manufacturing hub for the Tesla Model Y and is planned as the future hub for production of the Tesla Cybertruck.
A timeline for the expansion has yet to be announced. However, according to a recent report from Reuters, Tesla is expected to host its investor day on March 1 at Giga Texas, whereupon plans for the expansion may be disclosed.
Tesla currently has five Gigafactories: Giga Nevada in Storey County, Nevada; Giga New York in Buffalo, New York; Giga Shanghai in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China; Giga Berlin in Brandenburg, Germany; and Giga Texas. A newspaper based out of Mexico City reported in December that Tesla could announce plans to construct a sixth Gigafactory in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon this year.
— Channing Hamilton