Tesla to increase investment plans until 2025

Tesla is planning to increase its capital expenditure range by one billion dollars. The money could flow into the expansion of Giga Nevada, or possibly into a new plant in Mexico, for which there is new information about a possible location.

First, to the company’s investment plan: as a document submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows, Tesla expects to invest between seven and nine billion dollars in each of the years 2024 and 2025. This is one billion dollars higher than the range of six to eight billion dollars indicated for 2023.

“We are simultaneously ramping new products, ramping manufacturing facilities on three continents and piloting the development and manufacture of new battery cell technologies, and the pace of our capital spend may vary depending on overall priority among projects, the pace at which we meet milestones, production adjustments to and among our various products, increased capital efficiencies and the addition of new projects,” Tesla wrote in the 10-K document to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Some of the spending will go toward the recently announced massive expansion of the company’s Nevada state factory, with two new production facilities for ‘Semi’ electric trucks and 4680 cells. Tesla has budgeted investments of more than $3.6 billion for the Giga Nevada expansion, though it has not given a timeline.

Additional spending is likely to flow into the production ramp-up at the two plants in Austin and Grünheide, which had opened in 2022. Tesla had already recently applied for further expansion work for Giga Texas. The US factory, which according to earlier information was also to house the production of the electric truck that has since been relocated to Nevada, is also expected to produce the long-awaited electric ‘Semi’ truck in addition to the Model Y. Elon Musk had also held out the prospect of other models besides the Model Y for Grünheide in the past, but had not made any concrete announcements.

On the way to the targeted medium-term growth of 50 per cent per year, Tesla will need additional factories. Rumours persist around a possible investment in Mexico. There, there is a new statement about a possible location, which, however, does not correspond to the information from December. According to a spokesperson for the Mexican president, Tesla is considering building an assembly plant near a new airport in Mexico City that would serve as an export hub for the company. Specifically, he is talking about an industrial park at Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA), located near the Mexican capital. Presidential spokesperson Jesus Ramirez made this statement not only to the newspaper El Heraldo de Mexico, but also to Reuters. He told the newspaper, “Tesla will invest there … in an assembly plant, to export directly by air.”

In December, local media had reported on Tesla purchasing land for a new factory in Santa Catarina in the Mexican state of Nuevo León – several hundred kilometers to the north. While spokesperson for the Mexican president is generally considered a more credible source on this than a local media report, but exporting by air freight seems quite expensive for large quantities. Reuters also claims to have heard from an unnamed Mexican official that Tesla has been shown the location – but that no further decisions have been made.

Thus, there will probably be clarity only with a confirmation on the part of Tesla. After all, this was promised for the beginning of 2023 and should therefore follow soon – if Tesla is actually planning a plant in Mexico.

sec.gov, handelsblatt.com (both investment), reuters.com (Mexico)