This Thursday Night TeslaElon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors spoke at the grand opening ceremony for their new factory in Austin. It is located near Austin’s airport.

He spoke at the event about the massive new factory and teased future products, such as the Cybertruck and the robotaxi he said would be futuristic.

Musk said that it was not easy to build this huge building and get all the equipment here. He wore a big black cowboy hat, and thanked Tesla’s Travis County neighbors as well as Tesla workers who contributed to building it.

Musk stated, “If you place the building on its side it’s taller that the Burj Khalifa.” Musk was referring to Dubai’s tallest skyscraper. According to Tesla’s calculations 194 hamsters would fit inside the building, Musk joked.

The CEO of Tesla revealed that the company plans to produce 500,000 Model Y units in Austin in a single calendar year. Musk also confirmed that the company plans to begin production in Texas of its Cybertruck next year.

Tesla’s timetables are subject to change. Tesla is not alone in having to deal with shortages of chips and high prices for raw materials, all of which are being exacerbated by Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

Musk claimed that “in the last twelve months we have delivered more than one million cars around the world.” Musk said, “There is still much to do.”

According to AutoForecast Solutions research, Tesla cars account for more than 75% in all US fully-electric vehicles sold today. Domestically, fully electric vehicles make up about 4%.

The construction of the Austin assembly plant for Tesla vehicles took about 2 years. Before Tesla adapted it for its Model S sedans and Model X SUVs (its first mass-manufactured vehicle) and its Model 3 and Model Y, the Fremont plant that was its US first car manufacturing facility, it had been owned jointly by GM.

While the Fremont factory remains operational today, Tesla plans on increasing production of Model Y electric vehicles in Austin and its batteries in Austin. It also intends to manufacture its distinctive trapezoidal pickup, Cybertruck in Texas for North America customers.

CNBC was informed by Sam Fioriani (Vice President of Global Vehicle Forecasting, AutoForecast Solutions), that the new facility is urgently needed.

“They need to have more plants because they are developing new products,” he stated. Because it is a factory that produces Tesla products, he believes the Austin facility will help Tesla improve their quality and lower their production costs.

Fiorani said that the team has built approximately a million vehicles to date, so they must have learned what works. Fiorani stated that they should be able “to enhance the positives.”

Musk stated on Thursday evening that Model Y cars being manufactured in Texas have what is known as a structural pack. This means the high-voltage battery packs in the vehicles’ cells carry the vehicle’s load.

Tesla held a grand opening in Texas before starting commercial production at a second plant in Brandenburg.

Due to restrictions on covid health in the area, Shanghai’s factory of automobile production was closed for several days.

Elon Musk had sent the share price for this stock earlier in the week. TwitterAfter financial filings revealed his finances, Twitter showed that he’d taken an approximately 9% activist stakeIn the social media company would take a board seat there.

Musk is a master of social media and has helped to build Tesla’s brand, particularly through Twitter. He did not speak about his Twitter plans at Thursday’s company party.