AUSTIN, TEXAS — Electric automaker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has selected a 2,000-acre site near Austin for the development of its latest $1 billion ‘Gigafactory.’
The vehicle manufacturing plant will build Tesla’s new Cybertruck pick-up truck and will be the second U.S. manufacturing site for the Model 3 and Model Y automobiles, distributing largely to the eastern half of North America.
The development site is located in southeast Travis County, five minutes from the Austin International Airport and 15 minutes from Downtown Austin, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The project is set to receive $60 million in tax breaks from the county and a local school district over the next decade, according to reports by the Associated Press.
“We’re going to make it a factory that is going to be stunning,” said Musk on the company’s second-quarter earnings call held Wednesday. “It’s right on the Colorado River [with] a boardwalk where there will be a hiking and biking trail. It’s going to be an ecological paradise — birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream — and it will be open to the public as well.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott echoed Musk’s excitement, noting that Tesla is, “one of the most exciting and innovative companies in the world.”
Tesla currently has one U.S. assembly plant located in the San Francisco Bay Area community of Fremont, California, and a factory in Reno, Nevada, tasked with building batteries for the company’s vehicles. The Texas ‘Gigafactory’ is set to be the company’s largest to date, according to reports by the Associated Press.
A timeline for the development has yet to be announced. Tesla stock closed at $1,592.33 on July 22, up substantially from $255.68 on the same date last year.
— Katie Sloan