Tesla has announced that it will build its biggest North American service center to date in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The facility is set to be 120,000 square feet and will serve as a hub for delivery operations, new vehicle prep, and servicing, as well as as a showroom, according to the Vancouver Sun.
The company is also planning a 60,000-square-foot service and delivery facility in Port Coquitlam, about 17 miles east of Vancouver. However, this facility has been criticized as insufficient for providing service for the region, which makes the Vancouver facility's announcement seem inevitable.
A little over a year ago, at the end of 2022, Tesla made up 51% of electric vehicles in British Columbia, the province that includes Vancouver, on Canada's west coast, according to Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) stats cited by the Sun.
Of those Teslas, 79% — about 32,000 — were in Metro Vancouver, which means that the facility's placement will help serve tens of thousands of existing Tesla customers in the region.
Having more EVs on the road requires more opportunities for servicing those vehicles. "Tesla opening up a large service center is going to be needed for sure," Scott Waddle, owner of the independent garage Precision Auto Service, told the Sun. "It doesn't matter what kind of car it is, the (manufacturer) dealer has never been able to service all the cars (they have produced) so the independent aftermarket will be required."
"It's been difficult for some people to get their Teslas serviced, and this increase is definitely going to help the Tesla community," said Ron Burton, a spokesperson for the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association.
The expanded service opportunities are just one of many promising developments that Tesla is making soon. As the company continues to expand its operations worldwide, it's also toying with manufacturing improvements that will help streamline its production. And for the first time, Tesla is now allowing drivers to charge their EVs with solar energy.
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