Featured image: @JoeTegtmeyer/Twitter
Documents filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) confirm Tesla's intention to produce battery cells at Giga Texas, although the construction for this capability is most likely not planned at the first stage.
The Austin Business Journal reports that the documents filed with the TCEQ contain "plans for cell production, including an air quality analysis and a permit-by-rule registration." TCEQ spokesman Brian McGovern confirmed to the Austin Business Journal that Tesla's documents indicate that the company is "planning to produce elements."
Kevin Tynan, the senior automotive analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said from what he saw in the building plans and permits, it looks like Tesla did not plan to manufacture battery cells in the first stage of construction. “What it looks like from what I've seen of the building plans and the permits… is the cell manufacturing isn't the first stage,” he said. “I think they would more grow into that as they get the Cybertruck or Model Y production up, and they can see that the demand is legitimately there to have that battery or cell manufacturing facility."
In early October, it was already known that Tesla had filed documents with the TCEQ stating that the company will plan to use a "cell-manufacturing unit" to produce the battery packs that are used in its vehicles. “The facility is proposing to operate a cell-manufacturing unit to produce the battery packs that are installed in the vehicle,” says Tesla's filing.
And now, judging by Tesla’s battery cell related job postings in Austin, it’s evident the company intends to charge forward with its plans: Here are a few examples:
Process Development Engineer, Cell Engineering
Cell Quality Lab, Engineering Technician
Cell Manufacturing Operational Leader
Cell Shop Senior Leader
Equipment Development Engineer, Cell Engineer
Battery jobs have gone live at Austin, @EvaFoxU @vincent13031925 https://t.co/36BxGBJodc pic.twitter.com/CY7cLPxbxS
— 🔋 Ryan Alvarez 🔋 (@Ryan_Alvarez116) November 9, 2020
The exact location of where battery production would take place at Giga Texas is unclear from the documents. It could be located on the previously acquired 2,100-acre site, where all the production buildings will be, or on the 381 acres that Tesla bought in September.
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
