Tesla has asked the state of Texas to expand its Austin factory this year. As a result, investments of more than 700 million US dollars are planned for the construction of new facilities for the testing and production of battery cells, the production of cathodes and drive units.
Tesla officially opened its Austin factory in April 2022. The capacities for the production of the vehicle itself – currently only the Model Y, in the future also the Cybertruck – will not be adequate. Because the Model Y production lines only occupy a small part of the huge hall. So there is still room for more vehicle production lines.
According to the filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration, Tesla plans to use an additional 1.4 million square feet for four projects at a cost of $717 million. Most of the investment and also the area will be used for a “Cell 1” facility – specifically $368 million and just over 64,000 square feet. The construction of “Cell 1” – presumably the hall for the production of the cells – should therefore start on January 23, 2023 and be completed on February 12, 2024.
The second largest subproject is the “Drive Unit” building, which is expected to be erected over 39,300 square meters by January 2024 for about $85 million – and given the name, it’s not surprising that it will house the production of the drive unit. The Cathode room, which is slightly smaller at 29,800 square feet but is significantly more expensive at $250 million, will produce some of the preliminary products for Cell 1. The expected start of construction here is January 30, this system is to be built in 2023, precisely by 18 December. The construction of the smaller subproject is to be completed even faster: by August 25, a cell test laboratory of only 240 square meters will be completed.
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However, the Electrek portal points out that some of these expansion logins may be an addition to previous plans. Because according to the latest drone images of the site, the production of the cathode is already under construction, although according to the current presentation, the work shouldn’t start before the end of the month. Current construction activities are therefore likely to build on previous observations.
However, the documents do not contain more detailed data on the listed projects. It is therefore not clear what production capabilities cell, cathode and drive production should have. While not explicitly mentioned, it is clear that the production of 4680 round cells will be involved. These are used in a Giga Texas-built version of the Model Y and the Semi e-truck, but will also be installed in the Cybertruck and Roadster 2 in the future.
electrek.co, teslarati.com
