Gigafactory Texas (also known as Giga Texas, Giga Austin, or Gigafactory 5) is a

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from h ...

automotive manufacturing facility in unincorporated

Travis County, Texas Travis County is located in Central Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the List of counties in Texas, fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat and most populous city is Austi ...

, just outside of

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. Construction began in July 2020, limited production of Model Y began before the end of 2021, and initial deliveries of vehicles built at the factory took place at an opening party called "Cyber Rodeo" on April 7, 2022. The factory produces Model Y cars for the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

and is also the main factory for the Cybertruck and the company's next-generation vehicle. It also serves as the site of Tesla's corporate headquarters. Tesla employs over 20,000 people at the factory and expects to eventually have a staff of 60,000 as production ramps up. It is the country's second biggest factory by size as well as the second-largest building by volume in the world after the

Boeing Everett Factory The Boeing Everett Factory, officially the Everett Production Facility, is an airplane assembly facility operated by Boeing in Everett, Washington, United States. It sits on the north side of Paine Field and includes the largest building in th ...

History

Selection process

Tesla began considering locations across eight states in the central United States during 2019‒2020. Community groups and government officials in several areas of the US expressed interest in hosting what was expected to be a very large Tesla Gigafactory manufacturing facility. Some expressed interest in facilitating land procurement, getting over the regulatory obstacles, and considering potential

tax incentives A tax incentive is an aspect of a government's taxation policy designed to incentivize or encourage a particular economic activity by reducing tax payments. Tax incentives can have both positive and negative impacts on an economy. Among the po ...

. Some aimed to reach

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

directly through

social media marketing Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for b ...

. By May 2020, a selection process was underway by Tesla. The short list included Austin,

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and Tulsa (Oklahoma). Two locations in the vicinity of Tulsa had been viewed by Tesla by mid-May. The Tulsa campaign was promoted by

G. T. Bynum George Theron Bynum IV (born August 28, 1977) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as the 40th mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 2016 to 2024. Bynum was first elected to the Tulsa City Council, representing the ninth district in 2008 a ...

, the

mayor of Tulsa This is a list of mayors of Tulsa, a city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Mayors of Tulsa are elected for four year terms. Mayors of Tulsa Notes See also * Timeline of Tulsa, Oklahoma References ;General Political Graveyard–Mayors of T ...

. In May 2020 Bynum discussed the suitability of "

Green Country Green Country, sometimes referred to as Northeast Oklahoma, is the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, which lies west of the northern half of Arkansas, the southwestern corner the way of Missouri, and south of Kansas. Alternate ...

" (Northeastern Oklahoma) and distributed a

photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final imag ...

of the Cybertruck in

Tulsa Police Department The Tulsa Police Department (TPD) is the principal law enforcement agency for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. It holds national accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and stands as the second- ...

livery, with a suggestion of

local purchasing Local purchasing is a preference to buy locally produced goods and services rather than those produced farther away. It is very often abbreviated as a positive goal, "buy local" or "buy locally', that parallels the phrase " think globally, act lo ...

, if the Gigafactory was to be situated near Tulsa. On May 20, 2020,

wrap advertising A vehicle vinyl wrap is the automotive aftermarket practice of completely or partially covering a vehicle's original paint with a vinyl wrap. Generally this vinyl wrap will be a different color or finish like a gloss, matte, chrome or clear pr ...

was applied to the

Golden Driller The ''Golden Driller'' is a , statue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, depicting an oil worker. The structure is a steel frame covered with concrete and plaster. It is the seventh-tallest statue in the United States and has been located in front of the Tul ...

statue located at the

Tulsa Expo Center SageNet Center, originally known as the Exposition Center from 1966 to 2007 and QuikTrip Center, until 2012, and River Spirit Expo from 2013 to 2021, is the center of the Tulsa State Fair and one of the largest clearspan buildings in the world. T ...

creating a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

, with the word "Tulsa" on statue's

belt buckle A belt buckle is a buckle, a clasp for fastening two ends, such as of straps or a belt (clothing), belt, in which a device attached to one of the ends is fitted or coupled to the other. The word enters Middle English via Old French and the ...

replaced by the "Tesla" name. In July 2020, Tesla selected Austin as the site for the factory.

Austin

In 2014, Tesla evaluated a manufacturing site on

U.S. Route 79 U.S. Route 79 (US 79) is a United States highway in the Southern United States. The route is officially considered and signed as a north–south highway, but its path is actually more of a diagonal northeast–southwest highway. The highway's n ...

at Frame Switch (), located between the towns of Hutto and

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...

, north-east of the

Greater Austin The Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area, metropolitan statistical area, or Greater Austin, is a five-county United States metropolitan area, metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas, as defined by the Office of ...

center as its next factory. However, Tesla chose to build its first Gigafactory (now named

Gigafactory Nevada Gigafactory Nevada (also known as Giga Nevada or Gigafactory 1) is a lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle component factory in Storey County, Nevada, United States. The facility, located east of Reno, Nevada, Reno, is owned and operated by T ...

) near

Sparks, Nevada Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904, incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno, Nevada, Reno. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 108,445 residents in the city. It is the List of citi ...

which is by

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

in 2014. By June 2020, another location, one near the Del Valle area of Austin was being considered, a site bordering Harold Green Road (later renamed Tesla Road) and

Texas State Highway 130 State Highway 130 (SH 130), also known as the Pickle Parkway, is a controlled-access highway, freeway and Toll roads in Texas, toll road in the U.S. state of Texas. It runs parallel to Interstate 35 in Texas, Interstate 35 (I-35) in San Ant ...

. On June 16, 2020, the

Commissioners' court Commissioners' court, or in Arkansas a quorum court, is the governing body of county government in three US states: Arkansas, Texas and Missouri. It is similar in function to a board of county commissioners. A similar system was in place in the ...

Travis County Travis County is located in Central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat and most populous city is Austin, the state's capital. The county was established i ...

discussed a possible incentives package for Tesla. In July 2020, the

Del Valle Independent School District Del Valle Independent School District (DVISD) is a public school district in the Del Valle, Texas, Del Valle community area of unincorporated area, unincorporated Travis County, Texas, Travis County, Texas (United States, USA). The school dis ...

approved a tax incentives package worth $68 million, should the Tesla Gigafactory be built. On July 22, 2020, during Tesla's second quarter 2020 earnings call, the company announced that location had been selected for its fifth Gigafactory. By the end of July 2020, construction had begun. The Tesla Gigafactory received state tax incentives worth about $50 million through the Texas Tax Code Chapter 313 program. Tesla announced a manufacturing training program in cooperation with

Austin Community College District The Austin Community College District (ACC) is a public community college system serving the Austin, Texas, metropolitan area and surrounding Central Texas communities. The college maintains numerous campuses, centers, and distance learning opti ...

on June 15, 2021. The program was expected to start in August 2021 and the course was to last 14 weeks. The first fully completed Tesla Model Y rolled off the line at Giga Texas in the last week of August 2021 under trial production. In December 2021, Elon Musk estimated that Giga Texas will require a total investment of at least $10B and may employ as many as 20,000 employees within the company. In early 2022 Tesla battery suppliers

CATL Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) is a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011 that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion battery, lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy st ...

and

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

were reportedly scouting sites for battery factories in North America, including Kansas, Oklahoma, Mexico and Canada. Panasonic announced in July 2022 that the company selected

De Soto, Kansas De Soto is a city along the Kansas River, in Johnson County, Kansas, Johnson and Leavenworth County, Kansas, Leavenworth counties in the U.S. state of Kansas, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

(at the former

Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant The Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant was a smokeless powder and propellant manufacturing facility in De Soto, Kansas, De Soto within Johnson County, Kansas. Constructed after the attack on Attack on Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor pushed the United Sta ...

) to build a battery factory. Large subsidies and abatements were granted to Panasonic, organized by Governor

Laura Kelly Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly,"
''Kansapedia,'' Kansas H ...

Equipment

Die casting

2021-01-18-tesla-giga-texas-casting-giga-press-foundations-x3-rebar

During the night of January 18/19, 2021, concrete foundations for three

Giga Press The Giga Press program is a series of aluminum, aluminium die casting (metalworking), casting machines manufactured for Tesla, Inc., Tesla, initially by Idra Group in Italy. Idra presses were the largest high-pressure die casting machines in pr ...

high-press die-casting machines were poured at the north-east corner Giga Texas factory location. On January 21, 2021, the first Giga Press components started to arrive on site in crates and

shipping containers A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...

. On January 22, 2021, the base frame of the first Giga Press was unboxed and craned into position.

Ramp-up

Some time in late June 2022, Gigafactory Texas reached a run rate of 1,000 units a week. On December 15, 2022, Gigafactory Texas reached a run rate of 3,000 units a week.

References

External links

Project 2020-115336 SP
plans, at Austin Build + Connect

Youtube update channels

Weekly updates with building construction progress statistics

daily drone footage of construction
{{Tesla Motors 5 Manufacturing plants in the United States Motor vehicle assembly plants in Texas Texas, Giga Corporate headquarters in the United States