Official: Tesla Cybertruck Will Call Texas Home

Following a months-long selection process, the location of Tesla's next Gigafactory is now official. Austin, Texas has beaten Tulsa, Oklahoma as the location of the electric automaker's new $1.1 billion factory tasked with building the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck. Aside from the fact that Texas has long been considered to be "truck country," Texas officials offered Musk and crew and a more attractive incentives package. When making the official announcement, Musk also stated that early construction is "already underway."

Texas officials offered Tesla tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks from both Travis County, where the factory will be located, as well as from a local school district. As for Tulsa, Musk said he was very impressed with the state's proposals and will "strongly consider" it for possible future projects.

Unlike other Tesla factories, the Texas factory will be open to the public because it'll also be a park, so to speak, featuring hiking and biking trails and a boardwalk. "It's going to basically be an ecological paradise," Musk said. "Birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream."

The site for the new factory totals about 2,100 acres and runs up against Texas' Colorado River and is located only about five minutes Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and 15 minutes from downtown Austin. Upon completion, the factory will be between 4 and 5 million square feet. Tesla plans to hire up to 5,000 employees with wages beginning at $35,000.

In addition to building the Cybertruck, the factory will also build the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y for the East Coast market, along with the Tesla Semi.

The new Gigafactory will be Tesla's fourth facility in the US, which already includes the Fremont factory in California, a battery factory in Nevada, and a solar facility in New York. Outside of the US, Tesla has a factory in Shanghai, China and one currently under construction outside of Berlin, Germany.

"Tesla is one of the most exciting and innovative companies in the world, and we are proud to welcome its team to the State of Texas," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott. "Texas has the best workforce in the nation and we've built an economic environment that allows companies like Tesla to innovate and succeed."

Assuming construction remains on schedule, the first Tesla Cybertrucks should begin rolling off the assembly line sometime next year.