Tesla picks Texas for Cybertruck, semi factory

July 22, 2020 06:01 PM

Tesla has told Travis County that its planned factory to build the Cybertruck will eventually employ 5,000 full-time workers with an average salary of roughly $47,000 a year.

Texas is the big winner in the sweepstakes to land Tesla Inc.'s next Gigafactory.

CEO Elon Musk, speaking on the company's second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, said construction began this past weekend on a 2,000-acre site outside Austin along the Colorado River that sits about five minutes from the Austin airport.

Musk said the location will be open to the public and is basically "going to be an ecological paradise."

The site will build Tesla's Cybertruck pickup and semitruck, along with the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover, Musk said.

Tesla has been eyeing Texas for months. The automaker in June filed an application with an Austin-area school district in Travis County seeking a tax abatement.

Tulsa, Okla., was also in the running. The town's 75-foot Golden Driller statue was recently repainted by a local Tesla fan club to look something like Musk, sporting a Tesla logo on its chest and a belt buckle emblazoned with the company's name.

Musk said he was "very impressed" with the presentation to his team.

"We'll strongly consider Tulsa for the future expansion of Tesla down the road," Musk said.