driving more growth
Tesla cranks up Texas expansion with plans for massive new facility
Tesla has barely begun manufacturing electric vehicles at its new factory in east Travis County, and it’s already planning an expansion.
The Austin-based automaker is eyeing a 32-acre site adjacent to its auto manufacturing plant to build a nearly 1.6-million-square-foot industrial facility that would produce cathodes for battery manufacturing, as first reported by the Electrek industry website.
Tesla owns about 2,100 acres where the new 4.3-million-square-foot factory stands. The factory started producing vehicles late last year.
An application submitted earlier this month for an Austin building permit lists Colorado River Project LLC as a co-applicant for a project named “Cathode,” according to the Reuters news service. That’s the corporate name Tesla has used throughout the permitting process for the new factory. A spokeswoman for Austin Development Services Department told Reuters that the latest permit is for a Tesla cathode facility.
Reuters explains that cathodes are the most expensive component of a battery, and making them requires a lot of space and emits significant amounts of carbon dioxide.
It’s unclear when construction on the Tesla cathode facility might start and how many people it might employ. The Tesla car manufacturing plant is expected to employ at least 5,000 people.
A search of Tesla’s website found one job posting in Austin that contains the word “cathode.” The company is seeking an “energetic and engaging” quality supervisor to lead one of the first teams of quality technicians for Tesla’s “Cathode Quality Control Lab.”
“You will exercise your exceptional people skills to delegate tasks and guide personnel in developing one of Tesla’s newest manufacturing teams. Your proven record of driving improvements and agility in responding to quality excursions will enable you to set the tone for the rest of the team,” the job posting says.
Last year, Tesla moved its headquarters from Northern California to 2,100-acre site in east Travis County.
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This article originally ran on CultureMap.