Is Tesla Leaving California? Elon Musk Shares Tesla's Plans For The State, His Concerns That 'There's No Room'

In late 2020, Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk confirmed he had moved himself to the state of Texas from California. A year later, Tesla announced it was moving its headquarters to Texas as well. Musk is now clarifying why the company is looking beyond California.

What Happened: Musk said despite moving himself and Tesla’s headquarters to Texas, he still spends a lot of time in the state of California.

“Every couple weeks, I’m in L.A. for a couple days,” Musk said on the Full Send Podcast.

The move for Musk had a lot to do with Gigafactory Texas being built for Tesla and the Starship program from SpaceX being located in South Texas.

“Basically, the two big things for both Tesla and SpaceX. That’s where I needed to be.”

Musk clarified that Tesla is not leaving the state of California and said Tesla’s Fremont factory is the highest output car factory in North America. Tesla plans to ramp up production at the Fremont factory as well.

“It’s not like Tesla is leaving California.”

Musk said there is only so much space in the Bay Area, being sandwiched between the ocean, bay and mountains.

“We’ve gotten too big for the Bay Area.”

Related Link: Musk Explains How Politics Played Into Tesla's Move To Texas, Blames California Gerrymandering

Why It’s Important: Musk said in a previous interview that politics played into the move to Texas from California.

“I love working in California, but you can’t get stuff done,” Musk told the Tesla Silicon Valley Club in an interview.

Musk added that you get sued a lot in California, and it takes much longer to get approvals for factories.

Gigafactory Texas was built in 18 months, a much shorter time than it would have taken in California, Musk said.

Musk has also been vocal about the political leanings of California, saying the state Senate has nine Republicans and 31 Democrats and is “gerrymandered” to the advantage of the Democrats.

The Tesla CEO was also critical over factory shutdowns in California during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The comments from Musk in the latest interview put the reasoning for the move off of politics and onto a decision based on space and room to expand.

Photo: Created with an image from Tesla Owners Club Belgium on Flickr