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Tesla Gigafactory 1 new aerial pictures tease facility’s possible expansion
Recent photographs obtained by Teslarati reveal that Tesla’s new project at the north of Gigafactory 1 is progressing well. As could be seen in the new aerial pictures, a significant portion of the recently-flattened land now appears to be overlaid with asphalt.
Tesla’s recent development in the land north of the Nevada facility was first noticed by Tesla enthusiasts last month. As noted by u/MaChiMiB of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, the area that Tesla is developing appears to be around 2,000 x 1,500 ft (roughly 600 m x 470 m).
If the aerial photographs we recently acquired are any indication, Tesla seems to have finished moving the dirt and flattening the area, and is now in the process of overlaying asphalt. Overall, the project, which looks like the factory’s new, far more expansive parking lot, will likely be completed in the near future.
- An aerial shot of Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in NV featuring what appears to be the construction of a new parking lot. [Credit: Teslarati]
- An aerial shot of Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in NV. [Credit: Teslarati]
- An aerial shot of Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in NV featuring what appears to be the construction of a new parking lot. [Credit: Teslarati]
Tesla’s development north of Gigafactory 1 bodes well for the company’s plans for the facility. The company, after all, has not increased the building’s physical footprint since last year. Despite the lack of expansion on the building’s exterior, however, reports back in February revealed that Tesla has been upgrading its facilities and equipment within Gigafactory 1.
Over the course of 2017, Tesla filed 112 building permits for the factory, adding another $379.9 million to its investment and raising the total cost of the factory to roughly $1.3 billion. Quite noticeable in Tesla’s building permits in 2017 was the high occurrence of addendums, which correspond to improvements to facilities in the factory that are already built.
From the 112 building permits that were filed by the Elon Musk-led company, 50 were addendums. Permits for new facilities such as a metrology lab, which is designed to ensure that products are manufactured according to precise measurements, were also filed by Tesla in 2017.
- An aerial shot of Gigafactory 1 outside Reno, Nevada, taken during a flyover on March 12, 2018 and showing Tesla’s ongoing construction of a rooftop solar array. [Credit: Teslarati]
- An aerial shot of Gigafactory 1 outside Reno, Nevada, taken during a flyover on March 12, 2018 and showing Tesla’s ongoing construction of a rooftop solar array. [Credit: Teslarati]
- An aerial shot of Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in NV. [Credit: Teslarati]
Apart from this, Tesla has also begun installing solar panels on the Nevada Gigafactory’s roof. As shown by aerial photographs we acquired last month, Tesla has so far installed six sets of solar panels on the facility. Tesla’s efforts for Gigafactory 1 seem to be teased by the company recently as well, as a leaked email from Elon Musk stated that a hiring ramp would be underway for Gigafactory 1 and Fremont over the next few weeks. The ramp would help the company achieve its aim of producing 6,000 Model 3 a week by the end of the second quarter.
Considering that Tesla is now constructing what appears to be a new parking lot for Gigafactory 1, it seems safe to speculate that the company would soon be expanding the facility’s footprint once more. The factory, after all, might already boast a physical footprint of 1.9 million square feet, but it is still only 30% complete. Once finished, Gigafactory 1 is expected to cover an impressive 13 million square feet. The facility is also expected to boast a production capacity of up to 35 GWh annually.
Elon Musk
The Boring Company’s latest Tesla tunnel truck mod “fits like a glove”
The Boring Company has modified a Tesla powered tunnel truck to carry freight containers underground.
The Boring Company has found a second job for the Tesla hardware it already runs underground. In a post on X, Elon Musk’s tunneling company showed its latest Prufrock Liner Truck modified to carry a standard 20 foot shipping container. “Using TBC tunnels to transport freight,” the company wrote. “The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20′ shipping container. Fits like a glove!”
The photo shows a red container sitting on a long, low white chassis parked outside, with drive hardware visible at one end. The Boring Company did not say where or when freight hauling would start, which customers it has in mind, or how many trucks it is converting.
Using TBC tunnels to transport freight.
The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20’ shipping container.
Fits like a glove! https://t.co/VV0phWK4fc
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) October 19, 2026
Until now, the liner trucks have hauled concrete. Teslarati reported in August on Liner Truck 3, which uses Model 3 battery packs and drive units to move more than 22,000 pounds of precast tunnel segments to the boring machine. It has 28 miles of range, tops out at 12 mph, and is piloted remotely from the company’s operations center in Texas. The freight version appears to be the same platform with a different bed, and The Boring Company has not said whether it will also be remotely piloted.
Freight has been on the company’s menu for years. When TBC updated its product lineup in 2021, its freight tunnel was described as sized to fit a standard shipping container, “barely.” The company later used the idea at Tesla’s own factory, where Prufrock 3 dug a tunnel to Giga Texas that now moves finished Cybertrucks away from the production line.
The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D in September at a $23 billion valuation, and Teslarati has covered how that money is tied to a UAE tunneling push and a faster Nashville build. In Nashville, Prufrock MB1 and MB2 are mining at the same time, and a third machine is expected to launch in late October. Each machine needs a steady supply of liner trucks, so any design that works for segments and containers alike gives the company more use out of the same Tesla parts.
The Vegas Loop remains the only Boring Company system open to the public, and it moves passengers in Tesla vehicles. A freight service would be a separate product, and the post gave no indication that one is close to launch. For now, it is a truck, a container and a short caption saying they fit together.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027
Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”
SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.
It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.
Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.
Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:
Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America.
This will be the first of many.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals why Boring Co’s biggest East Coast project never happened
Elon Musk revealed in a post on X that “Permits were impossible to get,” explaining the fate of The Boring Company’s most ambitious East Coast proposal.
The comment responded to a query about what became of his July 20, 2017 announcement that he had “just received verbal govt approval” for an underground Hyperloop connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., capable of carrying passengers from the Big Apple to the Nation’s Capital in just 29 minutes.
The Boring Company receives verbal ‘approval’ to build NY to DC Hyperloop tunnel
The 2017 post, which envisioned city-center stations and multiple elevators in each city, sparked immediate scrutiny. Local and state officials in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. said they had no knowledge of any approval. A White House spokesperson confirmed only “promising conversations” about the transformative infrastructure.
Musk clarified shortly after that there was “still a lot of work” to do for formal approvals.
@cybrtrkguy Permits were impossible to get
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
Limited progress followed, as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s administration issued a conditional utility permit and supported work near Fort Meade. In 2018, Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary permit for site preparation and excavation on a vacant lot at 53 New York Ave. NE in the NoMa neighborhood, which The Boring Company said could become a station.
A draft environmental assessment for a D.C.-Baltimore segment was released in 2019. Yet, by April 2021, the company had removed the project from its website, and the Federal Highway Administration reported receiving no indication of further interest. Communication with Maryland officials had ceased.
The full corridor would have required coordination among the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, the Federal Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, and other agencies.
Environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, utility clearances, and approvals for novel infrastructure added to the overall complexity of the project and its approval.
Speculation on the permitting barriers centers around a few factors, but a multi-state, multi-level route involving unproven high-speed vacuum-tube technology inherently triggers exhaustive safety, environmental, and engineering reviews that can stretch for years, even for conventional projects.
There are also other elements, of course, like officials who may face political exposure if a privately funded, untested system encountered anything such as cost overruns, delays, or safety issues. On the outset of this project, there were limited things such as engineering plans or demonstrated technology maturity, which also added to the potential skepticism.
The East Coast vision for Boring Co., once framed as a privately funded revolution that could reshape Northeast travel, quietly ended without construction of the promised network. Musk’s recent statement frames the outcome as a regulatory impasse, unfortunate but not unexpected.




