Tesla's $717 million application to expand Giga Texas

The Tesla superfactory in Texas will expand by 1.4 million square feet as Tesla applies for more than $716 million in new projects, government documents show. The company plans to build four projects worth more than $700 million, three of which are dedicated to battery production.

Gigafactory Texas is already a very large factory, and it's almost a mile long. Tesla currently produces the Model Y at the facility, but the Model Y line occupies only a small portion of the giant plant. tesla plans to add Cybertruck production to the existing facility and has discussed expanding production and battery production for future vehicle projects.

Tesla applied for the four new projects on Jan. 9, according to documents filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Tesla has registered designs with Cell 1, Drive Unit, Cathode, and Cell Test Lab.

The total cost of the four new projects is $716,700,000, with the majority of the cost being the construction of Cell 1, which cost $368,000,000. The Cathode building cost $21,600,000, while the Drive Unit building and the Cell Test Lab building cost $85,000,000 and $3,700,000, respectively.

The company plans to begin work as early as the end of this month, according to the Austin Business Journal. It's one of Tesla's biggest expansion plans since it built its $5.5 billion Gigafactory in Germany last year. The plant will complement the automaker's efforts to expand electric car production in the U.S., but will also help Tesla reduce its reliance on its product suppliers. Batteries are key to the successful development of electric vehicles, and their production will need to increase rapidly and significantly to meet the goal of producing 20 million electric vehicles a year by 2030.