KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — A Tesla Service Center is coming soon to West Town Mall, Simon, the group that owns the West Knoxville property, confirmed on Monday, April 26.
The center will be located in the empty Sears Auto Center along Montvue Road across from Dick's Sporting Goods.
Spanish Version: Centro de servicios Tesla llegará pronto a West Town de Knoxville
Building plans and permits for the center were submitted to the city of Knoxville in March.
As with any commercial project, Tesla had to clear numerous hurdles before it's ready to open. The building must be retrofitted and meet various planning requirements to accommodate electrical, plumbing and fire standards.
An application for plans review was submitted on Nov. 25 to the city. The building permit was issued on Feb. 10, according to Lily Seabolt, development services coordinator for the city.
The center has long been anticipated in East Tennessee. Tesla operates a service center and a showroom and service center in Nashville.
Elon Musk, owner and founder of the upscale electrical vehicle, signaled in December 2018 on Twitter that he'd someday have a service center in Knoxville.
Tesla's presence is growing across the state as sales of electric vehicles increase.
"We're opening a lot of Tesla service centers next year, including Knoxville," he wrote then.
The timetable is not clear for the completion of the building. WBIR has reached out to Tesla for comment.
"Servicing an electric automobile is different from servicing a gas-powered car," Tesla states in its planning documents. "Tesla vehicles have no internal combustion engine.
"This vehicle is exclusively electric and is not a hybrid. Accordingly, there is no exhaust system, no fuel tanks, no liquid fuel usage, no new or used motor oil, no noise from the vehicle and no emissions like hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide that are emitted from an automobile powered by an internal combustion engine.
"Instead of an engine, an electric motor powers Tesla's vehicles. Electric motors require little to no maintenance."
Haskell Architects and Engineers of Jacksonville, Fla., submitted plans.
At this point the city hasn't performed any inspections for the building permit or the mechanical permit, Seabolt told 10News. An on-site inspection for the electrical permit was made on Feb. 19.
