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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will move its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas, a city that has recently seen an influx of tech companies and remote workers. Musk broke the news at Tesla, Inc.’s 2021 annual shareholders meeting, which took place in the Tesla Austin gigafactory, rather than in the Bay Area as in previous years.
Musk also said Tesla would continue to expand its business in California, increasing production at its Fremont gigafactory by 50%, although he did not say how it would achieve such a production ramp-up. The plant is currently able to produce approximately 500,000 Model 3 and Model Y per year and another 100,000 Model S and Model X per year.
Last May, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Alameda County for shutting down the company’s manufacturing plant in Fremont, Calif., To stop the spread of COVID and restrict all businesses not deemed essential and has threatened to take his company out of the state. The automaker dropped the lawsuit a few weeks later, but Musk was certainly excited as he tweeted, “Frankly, this is the last straw. Tesla will now immediately move its corporate headquarters and future programs to Texas / Nevada. If we even keep Fremont’s manufacturing business, it will depend on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last automaker in California.
The drama with Alameda County was not mentioned during the shareholder event. Rather, Musk attributed the move to Texas in part to a more accessible location for workers.
“It’s hard for people to afford a house and people have to come from far away,” Musk said. “There is a limit to how tall you can get in the Bay Area. In Austin, our factory is five minutes from the airport, 15 minutes from downtown.
Musk said Tesla plans to build “an ecological paradise” at the Austin site near the Colorado River.
During the event, Musk also provided updates on the Cybertruck, which he said would begin production at the end of 2022, with “volume production” by 2023. The Tesla Semi and Roadster would follow with the start of production by the end of 2023.
Musk cited multiple shortages in the supply chain, including the current semiconductor shortage, as the reason for the delay.
“The Semi in particular needs a lot of cells, needs a lot of cells [and] a lot of chips, ”he said.
Although Tesla unveiled the Semi prototype in 2017 and the Cybertruck in 2019, both vehicles have since suffered repeated delays, and always over supply chain issues.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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