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Report: Tesla plans to build a new car factory in Texas:
Elon Musk's recent clashes with officials in Alameda County, home of Tesla's Fremont factory, may have given him a heightened sense of urgency to find Tesla's next US factory. On Friday, several news outlets reported that Tesla was narrowing in on a new location to build the Model Y crossover and Tesla's forthcoming Cybertruck.
The reports started with Electrek, a pro-Tesla site whose co-founder Fred Lambert has good connections inside the company. Just before 3pm Eastern time, Lambert reported that Tesla had settled on Austin, Texas as the site of its next factory.
"We are told that the decision for the site is not set in stone since Tesla was apparently given a few options in the greater Austin area," Lambert wrote. "But Musk is said to want to start construction extremely soon and aims to have Model Y vehicles coming out of the plant by the end of the year."
That would be a remarkably short amount of time for any car company to build a new factory from scratch. Last year, it took Tesla almost a year to build its Shanghai factory—and that was considered unusually fast.
[...] Hours after Electrek's story ran, three news organizations—TechCrunch, CNBC, and the Associated Press—all published stories stating that Tesla was still considering Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"A final decision has not been made, but Austin and Tulsa are among the finalists," Techcrunch's Kirsten Korosec writes, citing "multiple sources."
[...] Both Texas and Oklahoma have right-to-work laws that allow employees to opt out of paying union dues. These laws could help Tesla discourage workers in its new factory from forming a union. California's laws are more friendly to union organizing.
Elon Musk SpaceX already has two locations in Texas: The Boca Chica site is rapidly ramping up development of Starship and the McGregor location has their rocket testing facility.
Recently:
(2020-05-14) Elon Musk's Boring Company Finishes Digging Las Vegas Tunnels
(2020-05-12) Musk Dares County Officials to Arrest Him as He Reopens Fremont Factory
(2020-05-02) Elon Musk Tweet Wipes $14bn Off Tesla's Value
(2020-04-15) Tesla's Robotaxi Fleet Will be 'Functionally Ready' in 2020, Musk Says
(2020-04-04) Tesla Beats Expectations with Strong First-Quarter Delivery Numbers
(Score: 2) by Username on Monday May 18 2020, @07:12PM (4 children)
I dont think it will be entirely new. Probably start with an existing building and just ship the current fab from CA to TX. Then just expand the warehouse and ramp up.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday May 18 2020, @11:09PM (3 children)
Do you know of a vacant building near Austin large enough to handle auto production? The reason they moved into Fremont was there was a huge auto fabrication plant existing there. Wasn't that hard to retool and start production in Alameda County. Plus there was a core of trained workers there. Wonder if he knows what he'll be getting into in Travis County. They may not be as easy a pushover as he might think.
A couple of days ago Musk was supposedly thinking of Nevada and maybe Austin. Could be he's he's just slinging shit around and looking for some wall for it to stick to.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by Username on Tuesday May 19 2020, @12:04AM (1 child)
No, I don't. I don't live in Texas. I don't believe they need a very large building just for one assembly line to start production. Especially if it's just to make a political point. They make firetrucks a few miles from me, the place is smaller than the foundry next to it, and most of the paper mills.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday May 19 2020, @03:11AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Factory [wikipedia.org]
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2020, @08:37PM
and why move to Austin if you don't want blue hairs ruining your life? it's the California of TX, ffs.