Tesla Plans More Than $700 Million in Upgrades to Texas Plant

According to documents filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration in January, Tesla is planning a major upgrade to its Austin, Texas, plant.

The Austin Business Journal first reported Tuesday that Tesla plans to invest $717 million in the location, adding about 1.4 million square feet of space.

The plans list four new buildings, including battery cell development and production, cathode and drive unit production, and a tooling plant.

The plant is where Tesla will build the Model Y for the eastern United States and the recently launched semi-truck. Tesla also plans to build the Cybertruck pickup truck at the plant, with production slated to begin later this year.

Tesla also has an original vehicle plant in Fremont, California, and vehicle plants in Berlin and Shanghai. It also has a plant in Reno, Nevada, which manufactures battery packs and other components.

The company is believed to be planning at least two more plants. One is a second plant in Shanghai, which will increase production capacity to more than 1 million vehicles per year. Tesla mentioned the second plant in a letter sent last May to officials in the Shanghai Lingang Special District, where the existing Shanghai plant is located.

A plant may also be built in Mexico; Bloomberg reported last month that Tesla was close to announcing plans to build a plant in the northeastern Mexican auto hub state of Nuevo León.