Tesla Texas Gigafactory Starting To Take Shape As Work Begins

With an investment of over $1billion, Tesla confirmed plans to erect a Gigafactory in Travis County, Texas. For years this area has been undeveloped, however ready for such an investment. Now, Tesla is to employ 5,000 people into the Tesla family.

This 2,000-acre plot is now being built upon and transformed into what CEO Elon Musk described as an “ecological paradise” as work starts to pick up the pace. According to a statement to the Austin American-Statesman, this area has been ready for development for quite some time now. However, the specific location of the new factory, Del Valle, show stats that show us that residents are nearly twice as likely to be African-American than other areas withing Travis County and the concentration of Latino families is high, meaning their average income is much lower than other parts of the country.

The average median income for individuals is just $20,000 a year, but thanks to Tesla’s input into the area, this could change.

Executives working on the project have estimated that 65% of the 5,000 jobs will involve unskilled labour, and the all-electric vehicle building company has also noted that the average salary at the plant will be $47,147. Extraordinarily, the median salary could be $68,303. Thanks to these numbers, this factory will be a very attractive workplace to the surrounding areas, and will hopefully increase the area’s overall average income and wealth.

Thanks to the vertical integration of logistics and other parts of the product journey in the future, this factory has the potential to grow quickly, meaning the area could also see future growth as products like the Tesla Semi begins to be introduced.

The local school system is also very interested in the potential of the factory, with Del Valle school board president Rebecca Birch the factory could open up countless doors for students, while also creating internship programs that could be of great use to young adults.

“We’re excited about the opportunity and can’t wait to see what this means for our kids. We made sure that we put students first and we hope this means everything we dream it will,” she said. 

The Texas-based Gigafactory looks to be Tesla’s greatest triumph yet with a lot of potential for expansion into battery production and other development, while also being partly open to the public. We’re very excited to see how this grows.