From then on, Tesla wanted to show that he could design a method of manufacturing cars with a cost of water per manufactured unit well below that of its competitors. In itself, his gigafactory in Texas was a problem given the semi-desert conditions of the North American state.
Now, Tesla will arrive with a plant in the neighboring state of Nuevo León, in Mexico, whose metropolitan area suffered in 2021 one of the worst potable water availability crises in recent years. This was used as a ploy by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to attract investment to Hidalgo and promote the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport.
And so how much water does Tesla use for each car produced? It depends on the plant.
Tesla uses 2,000 liters of water for each car manufactured
In it impact report 2021 , estimates that the Berlin gigafactory uses less than 2,000 liters of water for each vehicle manufactured. Little less than BMW and much less than Toyota and Volkswagen, which spend almost 4,000 liters per car. Which is basically the industry average.
The Texas gigafactory, however, continues to spend around 2,800 liters per car.
However, Tesla estimates that even when manufacturing power cells is considered, factories in Texas and Germany still lag behind average and most competitors.
What is Tesla doing to save water?
In car manufacturing there are processes that use water intensively: painting, cell manufacturing and cooling towers. The latter is the one that spends the most in the entire manufacturing process of Tesla cars. And, to reduce consumption, they point out the following actions:
- Optimization of processes that involve water
- Rainwater capture and its use for the manufacture of cars
- Water recycling and wastewater reuse
