Elon Musk teases possibility of a Texas gigafactory

Tesla’s CEO asked Twitter users whether or not they’d like to see a gigafactory in the Lone Star state

Elon Musk seems to want to build a Tesla factory in Texas (Credit: Getty Images, iStock)
Elon Musk seems to want to build a Tesla factory in Texas (Credit: Getty Images, iStock)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk put out the possibility of a Tesla “gigafactory” production facility in Texas this week.

Musk polled Twitter users with a two-word question: “Giga Texas?” and has received hundreds of thousands of responses, according to the New York Post. The possible responses were “hell yeah” or “nope,” and so far users are overwhelmingly supportive of the idea — over 80 percent of the more than 300,000 voters chose yes.

Musk, who’s prone to muse online about his businesses, possible projects and ventures, hasn’t said much about the possibility since. He said on a recent earnings call that Tesla has to “scale battery production to crazy levels that people cannot even fathom today,” to support the company’s expansion.

Tesla operates three such gigafactories and is building its fourth in Berlin. In the U.S. it has factories in Buffalo, New York and Sparks, Nevada. Its third is in Shanghai.

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Tesla announced its newest vehicle model late last year, the retro-futuristic Cybertruck. Musk has also said that the company needs to develop batteries with higher capacity for the Cybertruck and other vehicles.

While Tesla appears to be in expansion mode as far as production goes, the company last spring shut down most of its physical dealerships. The decision was made to cut costs to release its economy vehicle, the Model 3.

Prior to that decision, the company lobbied Texas lawmakers to change a law that barred auto manufacturers from operating their own dealerships, according to the Post. [New York Post] — Dennis Lynch