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New night shots at Giga Texas were taken this weekend by Jeff Roberts, who is a member of the Quad Squad, a group of drone pilots who were granted permission by Elon Musk to operate drones over Giga Texas to document Tesla’s daily improvements. I interviewed Jeff yesterday (you can read that here) and recently discovered that those stadium lights are manufactured right here in Baton Rouge — just 15 miles away from my home.

These new stadium lights are enabling Tesla to make fast progress in its construction of Giga Texas. Tesla is now operating  24/7, with three shifts.

This matters because it shows just how focused Tesla and Elon Musk are on making sure that the local and surrounding areas that are impacted by its business are supported. The fact that Tesla is benefitting my city and state in this way is touching.

Having a few modest shares in a company that inspires me and then have that Californian company invest in my local economy means a lot. Especially after the recent hurricanes that left me in the dark for a day and left many, many others without electricity and homes.

Elon himself actually helped us during Hurricane Laura. Elon donated to four local charities here — two of which I suggested: The Cajun Navy and the SWLA Community Foundation. All four of the local charities that he donated to provided much-needed hurricane relief during Laura, Delta, and Zeta here in Louisiana. (We’ve been hit by 3 hurricanes and 5 major storms in Louisiana this year, and faced 7 evacuations.)

Lake Charles was badly devastated — twice — by hurricanes. This city is where Corey Bordelon, the general sales manager at Boss Ltg, lives. Corey told me that after Hurricane Laura came through, everything was devastated. In the video above, you can see disaster cleanup in Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis Parishes being done with the aid of Boss Ltg’s stadium lights.

“We had every tower and poles down, no communications, no electricity at all for a month and a half. Several electrical companies reached out to rent our stadium light towers — our 6 feet and 8 feet light towers. They would stretch them along the streets along a power line where they could work 24/7 to get the communications and the power back up quickly,” he told me over the phone.

Getting Connected With Tesla

Corey explained that Boss Ltg has been doing business with the contractors on the site at Giga Texas, W.G Yates & Sons, and Keystone Concrete. He explained that he’s reached out to these contractors on previous occasions about renting their stadium lights.

“The contractors actually brought it to Tesla,” he said, and detailed how they informed Tesla that they wanted to use Boss Ltg’s stadium lights. “Tesla was all on board and we are right now in the process of talking to them about solar lights and different electrical lights and different other lights that we can put out there that we manufacture and build here in Baton Rouge.”

Using stadium lighting at night has so many wonderful advantages. Thank you so much @Tesla and @ElonMusk for using a stadium lighting company from Baton Rouge! One thing is for sure, Giga Texas is not boring! 🕳 pic.twitter.com/jzhiUxjRMw

— Gail (@GailAlfarATX) November 14, 2020

“We did some demos for them on a 30-foot skid which is an electrical tower and we also have demo out on some solar lights.” He’s positive that Tesla will use those lights.

“We’ll try to flood that whole project with lights.” Corey went into detail about some of the lights and pointed out that the light in our previous article, in the photo taken by Jeff Roberts, is driven by a generator. “We have a generator like the lights you have a picture of — it’s run on generator — but we have some that are run on just regular 110 electricity power and we have some that are solar-powered as well.”

An Additional 2.5¢

Whenever Elon Musk aims his business focus, that surrounding area benefits. We’ve talked about how Texas would benefit from Tesla being there, but Austin is pretty far from me even though Texas is our neighbor state. I did not expect the benefits to reach this area. I spoke with Gail Alfar, a member of the Austin Tesla Club, and she shared that she is amazed at Elon Musk’s leadership, Tesla’s speed of accomplishment, and how its greater mission is being accomplished — especially when there is a community in need.

“I think it’s absolutely phenomenal that Tesla has reached out to a community that was specifically affected by flooding and hurricanes in order to provide stadium lighting for Giga Texas. It’s amazing to see that communities can benefit from the Texas Gigafactory and through Elon Musk‘s leadership and the dynamic Tesla team. It’s insane to see so much being accomplished so fast not only around Central Texas but also in places like Louisiana, where there is a really great need as well for jobs. Ultimately, Tesla’s mission is about the people, and bringing better lives to many generations.”