To: Elon Musk, CEO Tesla Motors
Subject: Recommendation for Cybertruck Plant Location
Thank you for the opportunity to recommend a location for Tesla’s new Cybertruck and Model Y manufacturing facility. We initially considered potential sites in a number of locations other than Austin TX, such as Wichita KS, Joplin MO, Atlanta GA, and Nashville TN. After a “first cut” evaluation our conclusion is that the location we recommend in Texas is so obviously superior to the other four that we avoided spending any more of Tesla’s money evaluating alternative locations. With over 650,000 orders on your books for Tesla’s Cybertruck, we appreciate how essential speed of decision making, site selection, and construction are to Tesla in order to fulfil its open Cybertruck orders and satisfy its enthusiastic customers.
Our Texas site recommendation is made without regard to political considerations and possible state and local tax and other incentives, as we have no control over those. However, Texas prides itself on being a “business friendly” state (unlike California) and that should bode well for Tesla in its negotiations with local authorities.
Our recommendation is that Tesla locate its Cybertruck plant just east of Austin, specifically in either the area of Hornsby Bend/Webberville in Travis County, or just a few miles southeast to be in Bastrop County. This area is bounded by Hwy 130/45 to the west, Hwy 290 to the north, SH 21 to the east, and Hwy 71 to the south. We recommend consulting local Texas law and tax experts to see if there is any advantage to either county. If not, we recommend the Hornsby Bend location as it is closer to Highway 130/45.
There are overwhelming reasons for locating in Texas and specifically in the recommended Austin area. We list these below, in some logical order of importance given the criteria you have mentioned to us.
- The Austin area is well known for its hi-tech environment, with a wealth of software, semiconductor design, and engineering talent available. Becoming known as the “Silicon Prairie”, Austin is the selected location for the US Army Futures Command. Other defense-related agencies have a significant presence here in Austin as well.
- Austin’s annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference is the prestige annual meeting of entrepreneurs and innovators from around the globe.
- Austin is the state capitol and home to the University of Texas — one of the best engineering and business universities in the US. Moreover, Texas A&M and Baylor University, equally respected academic institutions, each are within 100 miles of Austin.
- Texas is the number one state in the US for pickup truck sales. Culturally, no state could be more eager to have Tesla’s Cybertrucks produced here.
- Texas has a ready supply of available labor, with adequate housing either available or easily constructed in the area. Examination of US state wage and salary tables indicate that salaries and wages in Texas are well below those of many other states.
- Texas has no state income tax, making it easier to attract and retain employees.
- The Austin area has a highly attractive culture, especially to college graduates, and is known for its music, food, and entertainment, as well as for an excellent network of hospitals and health care services.
- Texas has plenty of land readily available. Examination of local data shows that large plots of land in our recommended area may be available for some $6,000 to $10,000 per acre as listed before negotiation. See: land and farm.com/Bastrop county, for example.
- It would be prudent to have soil and bedrock analysis performed at the proposed site to be certain of the type of foundation needed to support Tesla’s production facility. In addition, the availability of an adequate water supply needs to be considered.
- Texas has very little inclement weather such as earthquakes, tornados or winter ice and snow that can disrupt operations. Furthermore, the area’s plentiful sunshine will be beneficial in providing your Tesla facilities with ample solar power, either through rooftop or “land farm” solar panels.
- Austin Energy is a leader in moving to wind and solar farms within the Texas-wide ERCOT grid. In addition, it is making Austin an electric vehicle-friendly city, in part by offering locals unlimited electric vehicle charging for a flat monthly fee.
- Given the relatively short distance from Austin’s city center, it may be feasible to construct either an above ground light rail or underground rail tunnel to allow rapid transit for Tesla employees from Austin to and from the plant facility.
- From Hornsby Bend, TX, here are distances to relevant locations: 11 miles to Austin’s city center, 26 miles to Bastrop, 8 miles to Austin’s Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA), 10 miles to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA) Formula 1 track, 81 miles to San Antonio, 194 miles to Dallas, and 167 miles to Houston.
- The location we recommend is close to the shipping ports of Houston (~190 miles) and Corpus Christi (~217 miles)
- Austin is well connected to the US Interstate Highway System in all directions.
- Austin is well surrounded by major rail lines as can be found on http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/tx-dot-info/tpp/maps/2016-railroad.pdf.
- As noted, the recommended Austin plant site is just 8 miles from Austin’s international airport (to undergo a doubling in size by 2050), and less than 200 miles from four other major airports – George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (166 miles), William P. Hobby Airport in Houston (175 miles), DFW International Airport in Dallas-Fort Worth (211 miles), and San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio (74 miles).
- From Fremont, CA, Austin is 1,500 miles by air, and 1,732 miles (25 hours) by road. Austin is just over one halfway across the US from Fremont, CA.
- As the crow flies, an 1,100 mile radius from Austin covers the southeastern US to Miami, 1,700 miles gets one to Maine, and 1,300 miles gets one to the Canadian border.
As 21 year-residents of Austin, we weren’t born here, but as the saying goes: “We got here as fast as we could!” In light of the compelling evidence discussed above, we highly recommend that you and Tesla do the same.
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