Nevada wins competition for Tesla Motors gigafactory
Submitted by admin on Thu, 09/04/2014 - 9:48pm
Tesla Motors has officially chosen Nevada as the location to build a $5 billion battery plant for its electric vehicle batteries.
“The gigafactory is an important step in advancing the cause of sustainable transportation and will enable the mass production of compelling electric vehicles for decades to come,” said CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk.
Governor Brian Sandoval released the news in a press conference Thursday in Carson City. The City of Reno issued a statement that this announcement “represents a significant win for the Reno region’s innovative and business-friendly perception on the national level.”
Tesla has been in negotiation for months with four other states including California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. CEO Elon Musk announced in spring that two sites would start to be constructed before a final winner was declared. In July, Tesla broke ground at the Reno Tahoe Industrial Center, but the company did not publicly commit to building in Nevada. The Silver State ultimately won the battle for the major economic development.
“This is great news for Nevada. This gigafactory will mean nearly one hundred billion dollars in economic impact to Nevada over the next twenty years,” said Sandoval.
About 3,000 construction jobs will be created to build the structure. Once completed, 6,500 jobs will be available for Nevada workers who will receive an average wage of $25 an hour with excellent benefits. Another 16,000 indirect jobs will be made in the community for a total of 22,500 jobs created.
Not only will the job market benefit from the electric carmakers, but Sandoval says Nevada’s educational institutions will see a profit as well.
“Research dollars will flow to our universities and our K-12 system will receive a direct $35 million dollar contribution from Tesla,” said Sandoval.
The donation will reduce taxes starting in August of 2018. In exchange, Tesla will operate in the state essentially tax-free for 10 years if the Nevada Legislature approves the deal.
The 10-million square foot factory will be solar and geothermal powered to produce all the energy it needs. It is projected to produce hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles. With one electric car costing around $35,000 to make, mass production will reduce the cost of manufacturing batteries. The project should also speed up Tesla’s plans to finalize its Model 3 by 2017.
“It’s not going to be just the biggest lithium iron factory in the world, but it will actually be bigger than the sum of all lithium iron factories in the world,” said Musk. Adding up all of the factories in China, Korea, Japan and elsewhere will not compare to the gigafactory being built in Nevada.
Tesla plans on having the gigafactory completed by 2017.
— Writer Amanda Ketchledge is with the Nevada Media Alliance, an organization of the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno created to advance multiplatform, in-depth coverage on topics in the public interest.
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