Tesla has been approved to invest $750,000 in nine local organizations in Texas this year, significantly exceeding its required investments. Although the company is required to give a certain percentage of its taxes as community investments, the figure nearly doubles the required amount from last year, and one official went on to call the automaker’s contributions “really impressive.”
Travis County commissioners approved Tesla for $750,000 in investments to local organizations in 2023, as shared by the automaker in a report this week (via Fox 7 Austin). Tesla is required to invest about 10 percent of operations and maintenance property taxes into organizations near its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, and in its official headquarters of Del Valle.
When Tesla established its headquarters in Del Valle, which officially opened in 2022 after being announced in 2020, part of the agreement included giving back to the community. Travis County Director of Economic Development Christy Moffett recently explained the agreement upon the commission’s approval of Tesla’s 2023 investment plan.
“Tesla has an obligation to spend an equivalent of at least 10 percent of the operations and maintenance ad valorem property tax owed by the company over the term of the agreement in one or more of the programs identified,” Moffett said.
Tesla’s maintenance and operational taxes amounted to a little more than $2.9 million in 2022, according to Fox 7 Austin, so the 10-percent requirement would equate to $298,000. The $750,000 Tesla has been approved for is more than double the 2022 figure.
“To see what has happened there because of the hard work of a lot of people, it’s really cool to see that,” said Rohan Patel, Tesla’s director of public policy.
The investments are broken up into increments ranging from as little as $12,000 to over $350,000, and will go toward organizations such as Del Valle school needs, along with multiple social and environmental groups.
“These things demonstrate to youth that there is something on the other side if [they] stay in school,” Travis County Precinct 1 Commissioner Jeff Travillion said.
The nine organizations are as follows, according to Tesla’s report to the county:
| Community Partner
|
Funding Amount
|
Program Description
|
| Ecorise
|
$100,000
|
Student Innovation Fund creating access to career pathways.
|
| American Youthworks
|
$30,000
|
New training and production equipment for Manufacturing Program, providing workforce training.
|
| Colorado River Alliance
|
$25,000
|
River clean-up and environmental education activities.
|
| Black Leaders’ Collective
|
$32,000
|
State of Black Education Program to improve career opportunities.
|
| Austin Area Urban League
|
$75,000
|
Green Jobs Initiative improving training and access to careers in the sustainability sector.
|
| Partners for Education Agriculture and Sustainability (PEAS)
|
$100,000
|
Sustainability/ Environmental programming to six elementary schools (AISD and Manor ISD) and prepare programming for the 4 Del Valle elementary schools.
|
| Workforce Solutions Teacher Externships
|
$12,000
|
2023 Summer Educator Externship Program. Tesla led training and teaching opportunities at Giga Texas.
|
| Del Valle ISD Staff
|
$376,880
|
Creation of 3 new DVISD roles to directly support career opportunities.
|
| Del Valle High School P-Tech Equipment
|
TBD
|
Manufacturing and Robotics equipment for classroom training.
|
Among the many programs are the addition of new roles at the Del Valle School District to support career development, and multiple education and training opportunities for students and teachers. The automaker is also expanding a 120-acre area to the west of Giga Texas as a pilot program for ecological restoration.
“The whole goal with this pilot project, which is a fairly large pilot project, is to get a lot of learnings about what works on this site and maybe what doesn’t and continue applying this along our river frontage,” said Logan Grant, Tesla factory engineer.
The news comes ahead of Tesla’s third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm ET.
“This is really impressive. I know there’s lots of chatter in the community about Musk and Tesla and all of that, but what you’ve created here is really remarkable,” said Brigid Shea, Travis County Precinct 2 Commissioner.
Tesla partners with Del Valle ISD on student training program for Giga Texas
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
