Despite opening a new factory in Austin, Texas and moving its corporate headquarters there, Tesla remains heavily involved in California. And it wants people to know that.
The thing is everyone familiar with Tesla is aware of this, yet the automaker felt the need to remind everyone how big it is in the Golden State in a rare blog post.
Published on its website on January 3, the article is titled “Tesla’s California Footprint.” In it, the EV maker notes that it has grown from a long-shot startup founded 20 years ago in San Carlos to the state’s largest manufacturing employer with 47,000 employees in 2022 – almost half its global workforce – and the world’s leading electric vehicle maker.
The automaker says this spectacular growth has been made possible by the “hard work of the Tesla team, the loyalty of our customers and climate policy leadership in California.” The company also highlights the positive economic growth it has been able to share with the state of California and its residents, in addition to environmental achievements.
Tesla’s footprint in California is made up of Megapack production and vehicle castings in Lathrop, hardware and software engineering in Palo Alto, vehicle and battery manufacturing in Fremont, battery development and testing in San Diego and vehicle design in Hawthorne.
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The EV maker points out that these efforts have a large impact on the Golden State’s employment, wages, gross state product and tax base. As many manufacturing jobs have been exported outside of the US over the past decade and international supply chains have been disrupted, Tesla says it has defied national trends by increasing domestic employment and production.
Tesla-supported jobs in California increased by 40% from 2018 to 2021, and 2021 wages exceeded the state average by 50%, offering the highest compensation in our sectors.
The automaker also cites a recent economic impact assessment conducted by IHS Markit that details its importance for California, including Tesla-supported California jobs – more than 80,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2021 – and taxes paid – $400 million in state and local taxes in 2021.
The automaker also points out that it has made over $5 billion in capital investments in its California facilities since 2016, chiefly in Fremont where the 2 millionth vehicle rolled off the lines in July 2022. The blog post ends with the statement, “We are confident that these trends will continue and that 2023 will be an even bigger year for Tesla in California.”
So where is Tesla going with this? Apparently nowhere, but this may be an attempt to get on California’s and Californians’ good side after Elon Musk’s antics – especially of the political kind – have antagonized many Tesla fans in the Golden State (and other blue states). Let us know what you think in the comments.
