A new report shows that several known Tesla suppliers are showing in Texas as the automaker is about to start production at its Gigafactory in Austin.
Tesla Gigafactory Texas is an important project for the automaker.
It is the first vehicle factory that Tesla is building from the ground up in the US.
The automaker currently operates Fremont factory in California, but it was first built in 1962 by General Motors, and Tesla acquired it in 2010.
It took a lot of work to retrofit it for electric vehicle production and Tesla came to the conclusion that going forward, it would be better to build a factory from the ground up.
That’s what it did at Gigafactory Nevada for battery, electric motor, energy products and to house Panasonic’s battery cell production.
For electric vehicles, Tesla also built Gigafactory Shanghai from the ground up.
In each case, these projects are so large that they attracted a lot of suppliers.
Now that Tesla is producing as many as 500,000 vehicles in Fremont, the Bay Area became a hub for automotive suppliers.
Gigafactory Texas is expected to become an even bigger project with several high-volume vehicle programs being produced at the factory, including Model Y, Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, and more.
This is now reportedly attracting several known Tesla suppliers.
Automotive News put together a list of known Tesla suppliers that have recently announced plans to deploy new manufacturing capacity in Texas and some near the project:
- Plastikon, an injection-molded plastics manufacturer in Hayward, Calif., that supplies Tesla’s Fremont assembly plant and provides plastics to automotive customers and other industries. The Austin Business Journal reported that Plastikon has leased a 100,000-square-foot facility in nearby Kyle, Texas, that will produce components for Tesla.
- Simwon North America, a U.S. business unit of South Korea’s Myoung Shin Industrial, will open an auto body parts facility in Kyle. Simwon also supplies Tesla’s assembly operations in Fremont. The company and related subsidiaries supply Hyundai, Hyundai Steel and supplier Hyundai Mobis, as well as Tesla in China, according to its website.
- ElringKlinger, a German supplier of parts and engineering services for electric vehicle programs, will build a $17 million plant in San Antonio, according to a local construction firm. ElringKlinger currently supplies cockpit cross beams for Tesla Model 3 production in Fremont.
- Saueressig Engineering, a German industrial process supplier now owned by the U.S. conglomerate Matthews International Corp. of Pittsburgh, will build a plant in San Antonio, according to a local report. Saueressig Engineering is a Tesla supplier, and the new Texas operation is expected to focus on EV battery production.
As we previously reported, Steel Dynamics, which is rumored to have secured the contract to supply the steel for the Tesla Cybertruck exoskeleton, is also in the process of completing a giant new steel factory in Texas.
Tesla recently said that it aims to start production at Gigafactory Texas by the end of the year – starting with Model Y.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
