Tesla is looking for a new gigafactory in the “central US” to produce the Cybertruck electric pickup truck and Model Y. CEO Elon Musk says that he is looking for “incentives, a workforce, and more” as Nashville is said to be in the running.
Yesterday, Musk announced that Tesla is scouting locations in the central US for a new gigafactory dubbed “Cybertruck Gigfactory.”
The CEO plans for Tesla to produce its new electric pickup truck there as well as Model Y vehicles for demand coming from the East Coast.
Musk didn’t elaborate on where specifically in the central US Tesla is currently scouting, but the CEO previously mentioned a tri-state area and Texas as possible locations for a second vehicle manufacturing facility in the US.
However, the rumor is that Tesla is currently looking at the Nashville area for the new factory.
Separate reports from TechCrunch and Axios mention sources saying that Nashville is on a shortlist of locations competing for the “Cybertruck Gigafactory.”
The new factory is going to be Tesla’s second major search for the best deal to build a giant new production facility in the US after the Gigafactory 1 project in Nevada six years ago.
With the Fremont factory, Tesla got the former Toyota-GM plant as part of a deal with the Japanese automaker, and Tesla inherited Gigafactory New York through its acquisition of SolarCity.
Like with Gigafactory Nevada, the automaker is expected to get government incentives as part of the deal, but Musk says that he is looking for more than that.
In an email to the Wall Street Journal, Musk wrote about the search:
Incentives play a role, but so do logistics costs, access to a large workforce with a wide range of talents, and quality of life.
Tennessee would be an interesting choice because it is becoming a hub for electric vehicle manufacturing. Nissan has been producing the Leaf at its plant in Smyrna, and Volkswagen is currently building an electric vehicle factory next to its existing plant in Chattanooga.
Electrek’s Take
Nashville could make sense, but I also thought that Texas was going to be it, especially after SpaceX decided to go there for several projects.
No matter where this Cybertruck Gigafactory project is going to end up, it’s going to be a very interesting one.
With Tesla’s focus on manufacturing and after learning from the Fremont factory, Gigafactory Shanghai, and now Gigafactory Berlin, I think the company is going to have all the tools to create something quite special for its next production facility.
What do you think? And where else do you think Tesla should look to build Cybertruck Gigafactory?
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