An are located in the southeastern region of Austin, Texas has Elon Musk's Tesla targeting it. They are planning to construct a site for a base of production for the Tesla Cybertruck.
Tesla has filed an application with a Travis County school district in Austin seeking a tax abatement. This information was found in publicly-filed documents. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced this March that the company would start looking for a site to construct a factory that can produce its in-development Cybertruck, as well as Model Y crossovers for Tesla customers on the East Coast.
What Did Tesla's Filing Say?
According to the filing, Tesla is looking closely at the possibility of the construction of an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Texas county Travis County. They are considering a site that's more than two thousand acres big and the site is currently a facility for ready-mix concrete that's owned by Martin Marietta Materials Inc. If everything is approved, the construction of the site will start on this year's third quarter.
The almost 5 million square feet wide production facility would have 5 thousand job openings for workers. It will become the fourth vehicle assembly plant of Tesla.
The first vehicle assembly plant is located in Fremont, California, which Tesla bought from Toyota Motor Corporation during the global financial crisis for more than $40 million. Tesla's second vehicle assembly plant is located in Shanghai's outskirts, where it produces Tesla Model 3 sedans. The third vehicle assembly plant is located near Berlin, and it's where they're planning to produce vehicles next year.
There were eight states that were initially considered to be a suitable contender and there were incentive packages that were given ahead of the decision of which ones to select. Since then, the search has been narrowed.
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Tesla Needs A Tax Abatement
The filing mentioned that their current target states were Texas and Oklahoma. Tesla claims that winning the school tax abatement from the school district of Del Valle will affect the decision of where the plant will be located.
Texas has a high amount of real and personal property taxes compared to other states, which makes the tax abatement especially vital.
Sean Kouplen, the Secretary of Commerce of Oklahoma, mentioned that Tulsa is still hunting for the assembly plant. According to Kouplen, they put together an incentive package that they claimed is compelling, well-balanced, and responsible. They are hoping they can attract Tesla to have their plant in Oklahoma.
Elon Musk declaring that Tesla would build a Cybertruck plant prompted many offers from states and cities across the United States of America hoping to get the manufacturing project built in their locality. This is similar to what happened in 2014, where they made an announcement that they had a plan to build a large battery factory. Nevada is where Tesla built the massive battery factory after an incentive package of $1.3 was offered.
Elon Musk threatened to move the Tesla headquarters and other future programs to Nevada or Texas after a California county hindered Tesla's reopening of the factory on Fremont in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic. A few days after Musk threatened to move, Tesla restarted production and defied county health officials in the process.
The Cybertruck plant that's currrently being planned would fulfill one of Elon Musk's long-time ambitions. In a blog post from 2016, Musk mentioned that Tesla's line-up would cover all major types of terrestrial transport. Pickup trucks are a form of terrestrial transport.
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