According to reports, electric car company Tesla is close to signing a deal which could see a battery storage site built in Milton Keynes.
Tesla is in advanced talks to lease a 338,000 sq ft project in Milton Keynes, according to property website React News. If acquired, the building would be the company's first major UK warehouse.
The electric car company, headed by Elon Musk and founded in Silicon Valley’s Palo Alto in 2003, has 34 public showrooms and service centres in Britain, including a store in Midsummer Place shopping centre, Milton Keynes.
The Milton Keynes units reportedly being eyed up by the company are being re-developed by Trammell Crow on the site of a former Arcadia Group warehouse. Trammwell Crow submitted planning permission to demolish the previous warehouse unit, replacing it with three modern buildings.
The Milton Keynes-based buildings include capacity on the roof for solar panel arrays and are connected to power reserves to provide electric vehicle charging, Business Telegraph reports.
In 2019, Elon Musk reportedly rejected the UK as a base for expansion of its manufacturing operations, stating that Brexit had made the idea "too risky". However, the following year it was reported that the Department for Transport had tried to find a 4 million sq ft site to house a UK Tesla plant as its progress in Germany stalled.
React News says Tesla is working with German logistics company DB Schenker on the new site.
MKFM have contacted Trammwell Crow for a comment.
