Tesla chief executive Elon Musk may have completed a visit to the UK to explore plans for an electric vehicle (EV) “Gigafactory” manufacturing plant on land near Bristol, it has been claimed.

Ten days after AM reported on Property Week's exclusive news story linking to the EV pioneer to a potential development site at Somerset’s 650-acre Gravity industrial estate, The Times indicated that his plans may be progressing.

In a report published yesterday (June 7), the newspaper said that Musk told his 36 million Twitter followers that he was “off for a while” at the beginning of last week, triggering growing speculation that he had flown in his private jet to Luton airport for a 24-hour visit to a location near Bristol.

Property Week’s article of May 28 revealed that the Government’s Department for International Trade (DIT) is seeking a four million square foot site to accommodate an electric vehicle (EV) research, development and manufacturing plant for Elon Musk’s car brand.

News of the development came just months after Tesla was forced to halt construction of a proposed 741-acre Berlin Gigafactory after a German courts raised concerns about the impact on wildlife of clearing 227 acres of forest to create the facility.

Musk had said that “Brexit made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK” in an interview published in Auto Express.

Property Week said in its report that one of the business parks trying to attract Tesla was Somerset’s 650-acre Gravity industrial estate.

A spokesperson for DIT told the publication: “The government is working with industry to help make the UK the location of choice to develop world-class electric vehicle technologies.

“DIT is working closely with partners to scope out sites for new investment into electric vehicle research, development and manufacturing across the UK.”