Tech
Tesla’s Texas factory is coming sooner than you think
It’s not, however, the one Musk threatened to open.
Electrek reports Tesla’s newest factory will be built in Austin, Texas. Petulant CEO Elon Musk recently threatened to move his Fremont factory to Texas, after calling California's shelter-in-place directives "fascist," but this practical factory has been in the works for a while to specifically manufacture Cybertrucks, Model Ys, and possibly Tesla's forthcoming "million-mile" batteries. The Terafactory will reside in or on the edges of city limits and is expected to start Model Y production by the end of 2020.
Factory construction on ludicrous mode — Though Tesla is still investigating location options around Austin, it’s expected to break ground as soon as the deal closes. With expectations to start production by December, the building process would be on an even faster breakneck speed than the company's Shanghai factory. The Chinese Gigafactory was complete within 10 months, resulting in earlier ship dates for Model Y cars.
Musk may be trying to use the same aggressive tactics to hit the 2020 production goal of 500,000 vehicles promised earlier this year. Another half a million buyers, however, will have to wait until the end of 2021 for the Austin factory to start churning out Cybertrucks.
Depending on the scale of the Terafactory, Tesla's new digs could facilitate the shuttering of the Fremont factory entirely. But again, Musk has big numbers to hit. He might posture and throw temper tantrums, but ultimately he has a bottom line to consider.
