Tesla Gigafactory Austin is now official, and CEO Elon Musk has made some interesting comments about the new factory, claiming it will be an “ecological paradise” that will be open to the public.
At Electrek, we’ve been reporting on Tesla’s plan to build its next Gigafactory in Austin since May, but the project hasn’t been made official by Tesla until this week.
With the release of its Q2 2020 financial results, Tesla confirmed that it selected a 2,000-acre piece of land just outside of Austin to build its next US factory.
In comments following the announcement, CEO Elon Musk described a project beyond just an electric vehicle factory.
Musk described Tesla Gigafactory Austin as an “ecological paradise:”
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.
The parcel of land acquired is mostly unoccupied except for a concrete plant, and a part of the land is indeed adjacent to a small part of the Colorado River.
Musk has previously talked about turning Tesla’s manufacturing facilities into attractions, but never to this degree.
The Fremont factory in California can be toured by owners, but it’s not really open to the public. The automaker has also offered tours of Gigafactory Nevada on occasions.
Previously, Tesla only confirmed Cybertruck and Model Y production at the new factory, but Musk has now released more information about the product lineup at Gigafactory Austin.
The CEO said during the call:
We’re going to be doing a major factory there. And it’s also where we will be doing Cybertruck there, the Tesla semi, and we will be doing Model 3 and Y for the eastern half of North America.
Tesla also confirmed the production site of the Tesla Semi for the first time.
As Electrek previously reported, Tesla plans to move fast on Gigafactory Austin. The automaker aims to have a general assembly line for Model Y running at the location by the end of the year.
Musk confirmed that work has already started at the site.
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