Image: Tesla
The U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board has authorized battery storage production at Tesla’s Brookshire, Texas Megapack factory inside Foreign-Trade Zone 84 on a limited basis for 14 months.
A Federal Register notice published Monday confirms the October 28 decision. Tesla filed the production request on May 20.
Foreign-trade zones let a company defer or lower U.S. customs duties on imported parts while goods are made or finished inside the zone. Duties can wait until products leave the zone for the U.S. market, and the finished-goods rate can be lower than the rate that would have applied to the parts alone.
According to Tesla’s June proposal notice, the Brookshire work covers Megapacks and Bento Inverters, with finished-product duty rates ranging from duty-free to 3.4 percent. The foreign-status materials and components listed in that filing carry duty rates from duty-free to 6.5 percent. Some of those parts face extra Section 122, Section 232 or Section 301 duties by country of origin and must enter the zone in privileged foreign status.
Tesla’s California operations received a similar authorization in August for its Fremont, Livermore and Lathrop sites inside Foreign-Trade Zone 18. That approval was also limited and ran for one year.
Demand for the units remains strong. Tesla said in October that Megapacks were almost sold out for 2027, and Fort Bend County the same month approved tax breaks for a proposed Tesla solar plant.
Will Tesla ask the board to extend the Brookshire production window once the 14 months run out?
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