Elon Musk Says He Plans on Making the Tesla Gigafactory in Texas an “Ecological Paradise”
Tesla submitted an expansion request for its new Texas-based plant, which Musk says will eventually become a multi-purpose outdoor space open to the public.
Major manufacturing plants like
Tesla’s
new Austin, Texas-based Gigafactory aren’t typically the most eco-friendly areas, but CEO Elon Musk assures that his company’s plans will be different. The production methods for electric cars have been a subject of scrutiny before due to their
ecological impact
, but automakers like Tesla are allegedly working to make every part of the production process greener. Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory is expanding
According to
Tesla Oracle
, Musk’s assertion that Gigafactory Texas will be an “ecological paradise” come following Tesla filing a permit to expand the brand’s new HQ
. Tesla requested an expansion permit from the City of Austin to expand the factory area by 500,000 square feet. If the application is approved, Giga Texas will extend an additional 12 acres, or to 280 acres total. That’s over 12 million square feet.
It makes sense that the EV maker would want to scale things up if Musk wants to produce
20 million EVs annually by 2030
, but what will this expansion mean for the surrounding land?Of course, with the new expansion comes a new set of ecological concerns. Musk originally talked about the plans for Giga Texas during a Q2 2020 Earnings call, and expanded on them again recently on Twitter.
How Tesla would make Giga Texas more eco-friendly
Back in 2020, Musk stated that the Giga Texas campus would be open to the public and include a boardwalk as well as a hiking and biking trail. The Giga Texas factory also happens to be very close to the Colorado River, which provides another natural feature that the plant could utilize.
“Long-term goal is a boardwalk with amenities that goes all the way to downtown Austin, so you can walk, bike or kayak,” said Musk in a follow-up
Tweet
. Even if the permit is approved, however, It may still be a while until Musk’s plans for an eco-friendly multi-use recreational space come to fruition. The space will only go into development once Giga Texas develops enough revenue to become self-sustaining.
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