• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • Founder of Spartan Diesel Technologies Faces a Year in Jail for Selling Diesel Defeat Devices
  • What Costs More: New Car or Rent? The $1K a Month Car Payment Hit’s New Highs
  • The Rearview Mirror: The End of the Road for Route 66
  • Here We Go Again: Automakers Report June Sales Decline
  • Recession or Not, U.S. Car Market is in For a Big Boom
  • Hyundai Slashing Passenger Car Line-up — Again
  • Tesla, Maserati and Genesis Owner Loyalty Rising
  • Tesla Market Share Set to Collapse as EV Competition Heats Up, Predicts Leading Analyst
  • Nissan Planning to Drop Titan After 2024
  • New NHTSA Chief Ready to Crack Down on Wayward Self-Driving Technology
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe Overland
    • A Week With: 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan SE R-Line Black
    • First Drive: 2023 Cadillac Lyriq
    • First Drive: 2022 Ford Bronco Everglades Edition
    • A Week With: 2022 Mazda3 2.5 S AWD Hatchback
    • First Drive: 2023 Honda HR-V
    • First Drive: 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor
    • A Week With: 2022 GMC Terrain AT4 AWD
    • A Week With: 2022 Cadillac Escalade Sport
    • First Drive: 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automakers > Tesla Looking to Power Up Texas – At Least Part of It

        Tesla Looking to Power Up Texas – At Least Part of It

        CEO and company getting comfortable in the Lone Star state.

        Jim Stickford , Contributing Editor
        March 08, 2021
        Musk and Abbot
        Texas Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is going to get a little more power – from a new storage battery Tesla’s building south of Houston.

        Texas is about to be the recipient of electrical largess from Tesla CEO Elon Musk – he will build a large battery that will connect to the Texas grid.

        Gambit Energy Storage LLC, which is registered as a Tesla Inc. unit, is building an 100-megawatt energy storage project 40 miles south of Houston. This battery would store enough electricity to power 20,000 homes during the heat of the south Texas summer. It could potentially reduce or eliminate the rolling blackouts commonplace that time of year attributed to users running their air conditioning units.

        However, the Lone Star state suffered blackouts for essentially the opposite reason – unusually cold winter weather for the state. On Feb. 21, during the peak of the winter storm that hit Texas with record cold and snow fall, more than 4 million people were without power, according to the Associated Press.

        Much of Texas’ electrical power is generated via natural gas. The state also owns its power grid, which is not connected to larger power grids across the country. During the February freeze wind turbines and solar panels froze, a major nuclear plant lost half of its generation, and there were massive failures in coal, oil and natural gas. Demand surged, meanwhile, as people accustomed to mild Texas winters turned on their heat.

        Not Musk’s first rodeo

        Tesla Australia storage battery
        Musk took a $50 million bet that the company could build this this storage battery in 100 days or less.

        Musk’s answered the bell in the past. In July 2017, Tesla won a contract to produce a 100 megwatt-hour lithium-ion, grid-style storage system for South Australia. The company won, in part, because Musk guaranteed he’d build it within 100 days or it would be free: a $50 million bet.

        The battery facility was built on a wind farm operated by the French company Neoen. It was designed to be the largest lithium-ion storage battery on earth, surpassing what was supposed to be an 80 megawatt-hour battery in California, which also uses Tesla batteries. It was cut down to 20 megawatts ultimately.

        The dedicated battery farm can power 30,000 homes for up to an hour, which relieves the burden on the grid during hot summer days when failure is most likely.

        Energy storage has been a part of Musk’s plans for Tesla for a while, repeatedly saying it be a big part of Tesla’s future. It “could be bigger, but it will certainly be of a similar magnitude,” Musk said during an earnings call to the media in October 2019.

        Getting comfy in the Lone Star state

        Tesla says it will begin vehicle production from Gigafactory Texas later this year.

        This story comes at a time when Musk’s operations in Texas have been growing. Aside from him personally moving to the state, Gigafactory Texas, the new manufacturing facility near Austin, has been under construction since July 2020. Tesla aims to have it up and running by the end of 2021.

        Recent news reports on March 2 stated that Tesla is also going to build an additional state-of-the-art manufacturing plant for SpaceX company. It is Musk’s satellite company, which designs manufactures and launches rockets and spacecraft.

        And in early March, Musk’s SpaceX unveiled details in a public notice detailing plans for a multi-acre site along the Gulf of Mexico that will contain two orbital launch pads, two landing pads, two structural test stands for Starship and the Super Heavy booster, a large “tank farm” to provide ground support equipment for orbital flights and a permanent position for the totemic “Starhopper” vehicle at the site’s entrance.

        Recently Published
        Spartan Diesel Tech coal roller one

        Founder of Spartan Diesel Technologies Faces a Year in Jail for Selling Diesel Defeat Devices

        Yesterday
        February car sales

        What Costs More: New Car or Rent? The $1K a Month Car Payment Hit’s New Highs

        Yesterday

        The Rearview Mirror: The End of the Road for Route 66

        July 02, 2022

        2 responses to “Tesla Looking to Power Up Texas – At Least Part of It”

        1. Walter Toki says:
          March 8, 2021 at 6:45 pm

          Is the Texas project a 100 mega-watt-hour battery?

          Reply
          1. Paul A. Eisenstein says:
            March 9, 2021 at 7:37 am

            Indeed, it is 100 mW.

            Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2022
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: