Update: Elon Musk told Teslarati the expansion plans will accommodate Tesla Giga Texas’s “ecological paradise.” Headline and paragraphs have been revised and updated to reflect accuracy based on Musk’s details.
Ecological paradise plans from south portion of Giga Texas to river look great, however we must first get the factory financially on its feet
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2022
Tesla has revised its application for Giga Texas to reveal a potential 500,000 square foot expansion of the automaker’s electric vehicle production factory located outside of Austin. Tesla added 12 acres to the site’s limits of construction, while adding 522,720 feet of space to the limit. CEO Elon Musk told Teslarati the expansion will accommodate the automaker’s plans for an “ecological paradise” at the factory.
Teslarati discovered Tesla has officially filed a revised application with the City of Austin’s Housing and Planning Department on September 20. The City noted that “[Tesla] is proposing Revision to previously approved Site Plan.”
Credit: City of Austin
Upon inspection of the new filing and comparing it to the old filling, Tesla is proposing a change to the Giga Texas site plan by expanding the limits of construction. The acreage in the previous application was listed at 268. The new application lists it at 280.
Additionally, the square footage of the factory is set to expand by 500,000 square feet. The previous application lists the limits of square footage at 11,674,080. The revised application filed by Tesla yesterday pushes the square footage limit to 12,196,800.
Tesla’s original site plan for Gigafactory Texas (Credit: City of Austin) Tesla’s revised site plan for Gigafactory Texas (Credit: City of Austin)
Musk told Teslarati in a series of Tweets that the area from the South end of Giga Texas to the Colorado River “really will be next-level great & open to public!”
Area from south Giga to river really will be next-level great & open to public!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2022
-
-
Additionally, Musk told us the initial plans for a boardwalk are still a go for the long-term and will stretch to downtown Austin.
Long-term goal is a boardwalk with amenities that goes all the way to downtown Austin, so you can walk, bike or kayak
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2022
Tesla says Gigafactory Texas covers over 250 acres of land and has over 10,000,000 square feet of factory floor, so the applications both line up with the company’s description of the factory on its website.
Gigafactory Texas currently builds 250,000 vehicles annually, according to Tesla’s most recent Shareholder Deck. However, the factory opened earlier this year and is not fully ramped. A few days ago, Tesla announced that the factory had built its 10,000th Model Y. Eventually, Gigafactory Texas is expected to build upwards of 500,000 vehicles annually.
Tesla has plans to produce the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas sometime next year. The vehicle had its design finalized earlier this year, Musk said.
-
This filing follows several other Gigafactory Texas expansion projects, which Tesla has planned for in the past year. In late June, Tesla filed to expand General Assembly 2 and General Assembly 3 by 500,000 square feet. Additionally, Tesla filed in mid-July to build on a 68.11-acre plot adjacent to the factory. It was listed as a “Production Support Area.”
The most recent development took place in mid-August when Tesla’s application to build a massive battery energy storage system (BESS) project at Gigafactory Texas was approved. The project is listed as a 53.27-acre land plot that will house Tesla Megapacks to support the energy grid by storing excess energy produced by solar panels.
While Tesla did file for an expansion of acreage and square footage, it doesn’t mean that it will expand the factory in the near future. Tesla could be preparing to give itself more real estate to work with in the future, especially if it plans to add even more elements to the Giga Texas campus.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.
On Friday, Tesla launched the Outlet Adapter that enabled Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) energy transfer, meaning owners could essentially utilize their cars as a power source for things like laptops, electric grills, or string lights.
However, even owners of some of the newest builds of the Model Y are finding out that their cars are not compatible with the new $80 accessory, stirring up a new complaint among members of the community.
Tesla launches V2L Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y in the U.S.
Upon the release of the Outlet Adapter on Friday, I signed into my Tesla account to order the accessory. However, I was met with the dreaded “This product is not compatible with your 2026 Model Y” message at the bottom of the screen.
Some said their accounts also displayed the same message, but they ordered anyway. However, they might be surprised to find that this is no mistake; some of the newest Model Ys do not have the appropriate Power Conversion System (PCS). Mine, which was ordered on this day last year and delivered on August 31, has the old 48A, single-phase PCS.
Vehicles with the new, two-piece PCS are able to utilize V2L features on their cars:
🚨 Looks like you can hit the Parts Catalog and enter your VIN and check to see if your Model Y will be able to use the adapter for V2L.https://t.co/QA9zRk7n2k
h/t to @SawyerMerritt for finding this out.
-I am sad but this isn’t a huge loss. https://t.co/AYpI12QVV9 pic.twitter.com/LRFSrtRywo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 16, 2026
Obviously, it’s disappointing. Many owners have taken delivery this year and still can not utilize the Outlet Adapter because their cars feature the old PCS:
Took delivery in February of 2026. I have the older one, so not going to work for me pic.twitter.com/RcOVq8gvvT
— Russell (@QuietTesla) August 16, 2026
It looks like if you have one of these older PCS units, you can upgrade, but the parts alone are $1,750, and that’s before Tesla adds labor for installing. It is honestly more logical to get some kind of portable power supply or power station at that point.
-
It is great that Tesla has enabled V2L for Model Y vehicles, but it is also unfortunate that vehicles that are less than one year old are not able to take advantage of this awesome new feature.
With that being said, it truly is a first-world problem; can you really complain when Full Self-Driving is available, maintenance is incredibly inexpensive, and the car has been so good through a year of ownership?
Tesla has launched a new Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y vehicles in the United States, meaning you can now power devices like laptops or light strings with your vehicle’s battery.
It appears the capability will be available for any Model Y Premium trim, including those that were purchased prior to the Adapter being launched. It will also only impact Juniper Model Y vehicles, so the first-gen owners will unfortunately not have access to this capability.
If your Model Y was purchased before Tesla renamed the trim levels to “Premium” and “Standard,” it does not seem to be compatible. My Model Y is technically a Premium build, as it is the Long Range All-Wheel-Drive. However, Tesla says it is not compatible with my vehicle.
🚨 Tesla has launched the Outlet Adapter for Model Y Premium in the U.S., enabling V2L capability for all Premium trims (that’s what it appears to be as it is available for purchase with all Premium trims)
It’s available for $80. 2.4kW max power and rated for 120v, 20A pic.twitter.com/lDxlVIk5s8
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
For $80, you can now utilize your car as a portable charger for small appliances or devices. This is perfect for things like tailgates, concerts, or camping, as you can now plug in devices that you might use. Those string lights for camping? That laptop for the other games that are on at the tailgate?
-
They’ll both utilize energy from your Tesla’s battery to be powered. This is the first time Tesla has expanded the capability to vehicles outside of the Model Y Performance and Cybertruck. However, this feature has been highly requested by owners for an extended period of time.
Tesla launched the Outlet Adapter in China last year:
Tesla China rolls out Model Y L V2L adapter, and it’s free for early owners
You will need the Mobile Connector to operate the Outlet Adapter: the Outlet Adapter will plug into the main housing of the Mobile Connector, where the appropriate adapter to charge your vehicle will plug in.
It is rated for 120 volts and 20 amps, and has a max power rating of 2.4kW.
You can buy it here from Tesla for $80.
-
Tesla is nearing its long-awaited unveiling of the all-electric Tesla Roadster, a new report from The Information claims, as the company has said several times this year that the event would take place “soon.”
Now, it appears there is movement on Tesla’s end regarding when it will happen.
The report says that Tesla will unveil the Roadster as soon as this month with a SpaceX version that will utilize cold-gas thrusters to help the vehicle float for a short period of time. This is something CEO Elon Musk has talked about with the Roadster for years.
🚨 The Information is reporting this morning that Tesla is ready to unveil the “flying” Roadster as soon as this month
It’s almost here, folks. pic.twitter.com/IdL4atsucQ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
Additionally, due to the delays, Tesla explored “a variety of designs” for the Roadster, potentially planning to abandon the design it showed off for the first time in 2017 and adopting an entirely new aesthetic.
-
According to The Information, Tesla considered utilizing a repurposed Model S Plaid and even wanted to upgrade the look to something like a Lamborghini Countach.
We’ve heard all of these things before, including teases about the date and how “soon” the Roadster will finally be ready to be shown off to the world (for the second time). Musk said that the event would occur in April, then May, then Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen continued to say it would be coming “soon.”
We do expect to see the Roadster by the end of the year, and now with this new report swirling, it appears it could be sooner rather than later.
The wait has been incredibly long, but there is likely a good reason for it. Tesla’s desire to make the Roadster the craziest vehicle on the road was non-negotiable, and it likely took a lot of time and resources to develop and perfect into something that was safe and suitable for a vehicle like this.
Tesla V2L adapter for Model Y stirs up a new complaint among owners
Tesla launches V2L Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y in the U.S.
