Tesla Austin Terafactory Construction Underway, Drone Video Shows Expansive Location

Ground work has begun at the at the site of the $1.1 billion Tesla Terafactory in Austin that will eventually assemble the Tesla Cybertruck electric pickup and the Tesla Model Y CUV.

The work started July 17 and the Terafactory is expected to begin producing its first Cybertrucks before the year ends, if not by early 2021.

Drone videos shared by local resident Jeff Roberts and reported by Teslarati show heavy equipment on the site of the Terafactory. These earthmovers are now excavating and leveling the site in preparation for laying the factory’s foundations.

The faster-than-expected progress seems to indicate an early completion of the factory, within the next few months. The video shows a lot of loose earth and intense activity at the site.

The Austin Terafactory is located on 2,100 acres off Texas State Highway 130 and Harold Green Road in Travis County. It sits east of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport five miles southeast of Downtown Austin. The factory will directly employ 1,000 persons, when completed.

“The location is five minutes from (Austin-Bergstrom International Airport) and 15 minutes from downtown Austin,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The Austin Terafactory will be the second plant assembling Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. after the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California. Fremont manufactures the Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y. It employs more than 10,000 people.

The Austin Terafactory won't be all business, however. Musk said the factory site will be open to the public as an “ecological paradise” with hiking/biking trails, among other things. Tesla might also earn tourist dollars because of Terafactory's proximity to the Colorado River.

The question now is if the Terafactory can be built faster than the Shanghai Gigafactory and the answer appears to be "Yes." If Tesla sticks to its plan of producing its first Cybertrucks before the end of 2020, this will mean a construction timeline of four to five months.

Chinese official media had boasted it took Chinese engineers, architects and construction crews a mere 168 days -- less than six months -- to build Giga Shanghai from start to finish.

Giga Shanghai occupies 210 acres of land, which is only a tenth of the acreage of the Austin Terafactory. It has a factory area of 865,000 square meters and employs 2,000 people. The factory's planned output is 250,000 EVs annually.