Tesla is opening its first Oxfordshire site in a technology park located south of Bicester. Albion Land’s Catalyst Park in Bicester is designed for advanced manufacturing sectors and technology, and will house Tesla’s newest outlet. With 40 stores in the UK, the Tesla store closest to Oxford up until now was in Reading.
Tesla has already been leasing the 24,000 sq ft location, alongside a unit that will be handed over to an unnamed design and manufacturing company. The new occupants will join Evolito, an aerospace company, and Yasa, a manufacturer of electric motors owned by Mercedes Benz, at the site. There is one more building currently available and an additional two under construction, comprising a further 110,000 sq ft that will be ready to let in summer 2024.
The business complex aims to help reduce commuting out of Bicester due to its proximity to housing, transport links and infrastructure. This would support Bicester’s population growth plans, with 10,000 new homes planned within 12 years and an increase in population from 32,000 to 50,000+ by 2031. Future planned infrastructure works are already in place to ensure the transport network will keep pace with this growth.
Tesla had previously been expanding in Oxford, with its superchargers contributing to the opening of the Redbridge Park and Ride electric vehicle charging hub in 2022, which was claimed to be the “most powerful” in Europe. It remains one of the few supercharger stations in Oxfordshire, with 12 Tesla chargers at 250kW restricted to Tesla owners. Although the manufacture and operation of Supercharger stations do have a carbon footprint, the reduction in emissions from electric vehicles will help achieve Oxford’s proposals to move to zero emission travel in the city.
Oxford is set to become the first UK city to introduce a zero-emission zone, an area in which only zero emission vehicles can be used without incurring a charge. The objective is to improve air quality, cut carbon emissions, and encourage the use of public transport, including Redbridge or Bicester Park and Ride. The scheme will only cover a handful of streets in the city centre, but the Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council hope to grow the zone over the coming years.
