Tesla Inc. intends to invest more than $1 billion in the construction of a new vehicle factory in Austin, Texas, public documents with a Texas state agency show.
Tesla has applied to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for approval of the first phase of Gigafactory Texas. The electric vehicle maker is concurrently constructing two major new factories: Gigafactory Texas and Gigafactory Berlin, which is located just outside of Berlin, Germany.
Tesla disclosed its investment on various production capabilities at its Austin factory in Friday filings. By Dec. 31, the company intends to complete construction of its general assembly, casting, stamping, paint and body shop facilities.
Earlier this year, during the company's third-quarter 2021 earnings conference, chief financial officer Zachary Kirkhorn stated that the automaker will not likely begin manufacturing in Texas or Berlin this year.
Kirkhorn disclosed it would not be because of a lack of readiness on the part of Tesla, but rather due to regulatory requirements in each jurisdiction.
"However, it remains our objective, and all of our strategies revolve around it. We should not anticipate delivering cars from these factories by the end of 2021, even if we do make them - for homologation and regulatory reasons," Kirkhorn said.
The filings were initially reported on Monday by electric vehicle news site Electrek.
The TDLR is responsible for regulating and licensing a wide variety of businesses, buildings, and equipment. Tesla's submissions were filed as part of the agency's architectural barriers initiative, which analyzes and inspects construction projects to ensure they adhere to Texas' accessibility rules.
Meanwhile, Tesla shares rose in pre-market trading following Elon Musk's announcement that the Model S Plaid, the automaker's high-performance luxury sedan, will be available in China early next year.
Musk said in a tweet early Monday that the Plaid will arrive in China "probably around March," following its September debut. The Plaid, which costs $140,000, has a range of 520 miles on a single charge and is capable of reaching high speeds of 200 miles per hour.
Based on figures from the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla sold 54,391 China-made automobiles in the world's largest car market last month, falling just short of the record amount of 56,006 in September.
The message comes following a weekend of inconvenience for some Tesla owners as a result of an app server outage that rendered them unable to connect to or access their vehicles.
Musk expressed regret for the outage, adding that it was caused by "increasing verbosity of network traffic."
