Tesla will spend at least $1.06 billion on Texas ‘Gigafactory’ and hopes to finish it this year, filings show

Tesla will spend over $1 billion on a new vehicle factory in Austin, Texas, and aims to complete construction of several major elements of the complex by Dec. 31, according to construction filings with the Texas Department of Regulation reviewed by CNBC.

Tesla plans to spend at least $1.06 billion on what the company calls a “Gigafactory” that will produce the company’s forthcoming electric pickup truck, Cybertruck, as well as Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

The permits show that Tesla’s previously announced expansion next to the Colorado River remains on track to start producing vehicles in the near future and that the company is investing a substantial amount of capital at the 2,000-acre facility.

The factory is also an important symbol for the company after it announced plans to move its headquarters from California to Texas in October. The Travis County, Texas, facility was first announced in 2020.

“Gigafactory Texas is progressing as planned,” Tesla said in a shareholder slide deck in October. “We are in the process of commissioning equipment and fabricating our first pre-production vehicles.”

The Texas filings, dated Nov. 19, show that Tesla started construction in Sept. and Nov. 2020 on facilities intended for body work, stamping, casting, painting, and full vehicle assembly at the plant, which will have more than 4.2 million square feet of space.

Tesla also operates factories in California, Nevada, and Shanghai, and is currently in the process of constructing a plant near Berlin.

Tesla previously said it planned to spend $1.1 billion on the Texas plant in meetings with local officials and received tax breaks worth a minimum of $14.7 million.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in October that Tesla “fits right in” to the city and region. Tesla plans to employ “thousands” of employees at the plant.

“We’re going to make it a factory that is going to be stunning; it’s right on the Colorado River. So we’re actually going to have to have a boardwalk over you, hiking, biking trail. It’s going to basically be an ecological paradise,” Musk said in 2020.

Electrek previously reported on the filings. Tesla didn’t return a request for comment.