On the Dash:
- Tesla plans to invest $1.4 million in a new 538,720-square-foot distribution facility near Austin.
- The project adds to the EV maker’s expanding manufacturing, logistics and technology presence in Texas.
- Tesla’s Texas delivery operations remain unique because of the state’s motor vehicle franchise laws.
Tesla is planning to build a distribution center near Austin, according to a September filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The project marks another investment in a state that has grown increasingly important to the EV maker and its affiliated businesses.
Construction is scheduled to begin Dec. 7, and the EV maker is targeting completion in December 2028. The company expects to invest just over $1.4 million in the project, which involves a 538,720-square-foot facility and will involve a new lease-space build-out inside an existing structure rather than new ground-up construction. However, the EV maker has yet to provide additional details about the project.
The EV maker currently operates 135 delivery centers nationwide, concentrated mainly in California and Florida, and has none in Texas. State motor vehicle sales franchise laws have historically limited how Tesla structures its sales and delivery operations in Texas, setting the state apart from Tesla’s other markets.
The planned distribution center adds to Tesla’s expanding footprint in Texas, where Austin already serves as a key hub for the company’s operations. That growth is unfolding alongside expansion from other Musk-led businesses in the state. SpaceX, for example, is in the early stages of developing a 100-million-square-foot semiconductor manufacturing campus north of Houston. Tesla and SpaceX expect the facility, known as Terafab, to produce chips for both companies, with planned applications including autonomous vehicles, robotics and satellite data centers.
Specifically, SpaceX is investing $16.8 million in the first of four planned phases of the project. Musk said in March that the completed Terafab facility could eventually produce 1 trillion watts of computing power annually. Together, the distribution center and the Terafab project point to a broader expansion of Tesla-related manufacturing, logistics and technology infrastructure across Texas.
