It has been revealed that Tesla Motors is on the lookout for possible locations to establish its Gigafactory in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the Rheinische Post reported recently, citing people familiar with the matter.

NRW is the country’s most populous state, and shares borders with the Netherlands and Belgium. First inspections have already taken place, the newspaper report added.

Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Germany was a leading choice in Europe to build a Gigafactory, and said that “the German-French border makes sense, near the Benelux countries.” More recently, he tweeted in April, stating that the company was “considering” building a factory in Germany.

The electric carmaker is also looking at the German state of Lower Saxony, which shares a border with the Netherlands, said economy minister Bernd Althusmann recently.

Meanwhile, just last month, Tesla revealed that it plans to build a new Gigafactory on the outskirts of Shanghai, which will be the company’s first overseas manufacturing facility. Tesla agreed to pay China 2.23 billion yuan (RM1.33 billion) in annual tax as part of a deal with local authorities, and it must begin generating the annual tax revenues at the end of 2023, or risk losing the land, which it bought for US$2 billion (RM8.26 billion) last year.

The facility in Shanghai will be used to produce the Model 3 sedan and the upcoming Model Y crossover, although it’s unclear if the Model X, Model S and the pick-up truck will be made there.

-paultan