According to an initial report published by the Puget Sound Business Journal, Tesla has leased a new warehouse building in the Cascade Industrial Center in Marysville, Washington. However, there are still questions about what the US EV maker plans to use it for.
Tesla is currently producing cars out of four factories, though only two are fully ramped up. It builds all four of its current models in Fremont, California, while producing the Model 3 and Model Y in China for the domestic market and abroad. The automaker is in the process of ramping up production at new factories in Texas and Germany and moving forward with the eventual construction of another new factory in Mexico.
That said, EV factories aren't Tesla's only properties. It also has another factory in New York that focuses on its energy business, along with a host of other random buildings we seldom hear about. From time to time we learn that Tesla acquired a new property, and it becomes interesting to try to figure out what it might be used for.
The new Tesla property is actually brand-new construction. The project will eventually offer 5.1 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space for a large number of companies.
While Tesla kept the acquisition under the radar, as it does with much of its doings, both the construction company and the property owner announced that it's being leased by the automaker. It's a 245,000-square-foot warehouse-style building that reports suggest Tesla will use for part assembly, though the company hasn't made any official announcements.
Tesla is now cranking out EVs quicker than it can sell them, even with numerous price cuts. We know it's essentially out of space in Fremont, and will likely struggle with space for parts and inventory going forward. For this reason, it makes sense to see the company picking up more space. Moreover, if it could move parts and part assembly out of the factories, it would free up space for larger efforts, including the diecasting EV manufacturing process and producing battery packs.
Tesla has acquired other, similar facilities over the years. Teslarati points out that it has a 600,000-square-foot building near St. Louis and a 400,000-square-foot facility in Houston, among others. At the time of acquisition, it wasn't clear what these properties would be used for, and it appears it's still unknown in many cases.
