Tesla plans electric vehicle R&D, repair facility in Southfield
Posted By: The Detroit News on November 4, 2022. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
Tesla Inc. has received approval from the City of Southfield to move forward with expanding a building for a research and development and repair facility for electric vehicles.
The city recently updated its zoning ordinance to allow for “this type of use,” Southfield Planning Director Terry Croad said in an interview Friday. “We hadn’t covered electric vehicles and research and design.”
The building at 21375 Telegraph Road is in Southfield’s “Telegraph Technology Corridor,” Croad said. Tesla plans to expand it to 34,500 square feet.
“As I’ve been telling people, this isn’t your grandfather’s bump shop,” Croad said. “You know, there’s not oils and gases, there’s a lot of computers and chips and (you can) do diagnostics in a much cleaner way than your typical automotive repair shop.”
A Tesla representative on the project declined to comment Friday.
“It’s a well-known name,” Croad said. “We continue to say that we’re the center of it all. We’re just finishing up our master plan where we’re trying to anticipate the industry moving to electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and automated vehicles. And we’re trying to position ourselves with our zoning to be flexible for these new technologies.”
Crain’s Detroit Business reported Thursday on Tesla’s plans in Southfield.
Southfield also just approved plans for a Costco Business Center to come to the Northland Center site, which is under redevelopment.
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