Tesla's New Service Centre Opens in Reading

Tesla is opening a new service and repair centre in Reading at Unit 1, Reading Logistics Park, near Reading International Business Park and the A33 relief road in Whitley, about half a mile from junction 11 of the M4.

It will be a car servicing centre and bodyshop, a vehicle delivery hub and a small ancillary showroom so customers can look at new models while their cars are maintained or repaired.

Photos from the site show the Tesla name and logo on the building, currently sealed off by metal barriers while work continues.

Reading Borough Council approved the building's use for Tesla in June via a certificate of lawfulness, meaning the proposed activities were lawful within the building's permitted planning use rather than new planning permission.

The centre will occupy a 36,736 sq ft unit - a 30,310 sq ft warehouse plus 6,426 sq ft of first-floor offices. It has 33 car parking spaces, eight cycle spaces, two level-access doors and two dock-level doors.

The logistics park is designed to achieve an EPC A+ rating and a BREEAM "Excellent" assessment, with solar panels among its sustainability features.

Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, with Elon Musk an early investor and serving as chief executive since 2008. The company rose to prominence after the Model S in 2012; the Model S reached the UK in 2014, the Model 3 arrived in 2019 and the Model Y in February 2022.

Although Chinese maker BYD has a showroom at Rose Kiln Lane in Reading, Tesla remains a significant player here. About 46,200 Teslas were registered in the UK in the first nine months of this year, roughly 2.7% of the new-car market and just over 10% of electric vehicle registrations.

View the approved application on the council's planning portal using reference PL/26/0443.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter