Nevada wins the competition to host Tesla's massive $5 billion Gigafactory, beating out other states for the bid, including the electric car maker's badly disappointed home state California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
No formal announcements have yet been made but Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval said on Twitter that he is conducting a press conference at 4 P.M. in Carson City for a "major announcement" about "economic development" in the state on Thursday.
Stay tuned for a major announcement tomorrow at 4PM related to economic development in #NV.
— Governor Sandoval (@GovSandoval) Sept. 3, 2014
"We continue our discussions with the State of Nevada, and look forward to joining the Governor and members of the legislature," says Tesla vice president Simon Sproule. "More details to come tomorrow."
This comes just after California, which was not part of the four original states competing for the project, delayed action on a bill that could have created economic incentives for Tesla until Dec. 1. Meaning Tesla could wait for California's legislators to reconvene or move on to other states.
California state Senator Ted Gaines, who introduced the bill to attract the project, expressed disappointment in Tesla and questioned whether the company planned to build its factory in California in the first place.
"They were sending a variety of different messages," says Gaines. "Depending on what day you listened to what Tesla was saying, they were saying they'd like to get a deal done as soon as possible, or in six months, or by year's end."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously stated that the winning state would be expected to provide $400 million in tax incentives, an unprecedented amount that would require the state of Nevada to take legislative action. Last week, the Reno Gazette-Journal cited sources close to the state legislature that Gov. Sandoval called for a special session to decide a tax abatement package for Tesla.
Last month, Tesla also confirmed that it has already begun excavating for a site in Nevada's Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, which is also home to a number of technology companies including Apple and Amazon. However, at that time, Musk and Tesla chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja said the move was "consistent with our strategy to identify and break ground on multiple sites."
With Tesla still to make a formal announcement, all signs already point to Nevada, but analysts believe the Model E maker is not settling for one state. Musk himself says he plans to build more Gigafactories in the future and he has more ambitions for the company beyond supplying battery packs for cars and power storage.
"It may be that Nevada isn't the sole winner, but is the earliest responder to Musk's needs for this project," says senior industry analyst Karl Brauer.
The Tesla Gigafactory is considered one of this year's most attractive industrial projects. Musk says that, once completed, the 10 million square foot battery plant will need to hire up to 6,500 workers to produce Tesla's low-cost lithium-ion battery packs that Tesla needs to manufacture its upcoming mass market Model III sedan.
Currently, Tesla's only vehicle on the market is the Model E sedan which, although it has garnered positive reviews from car critics and users, sets back a buyer by a whopping $70,000. With the cost-efficient batteries Tesla plans to produce in its Gigafactory, the company can afford to sell the new Model III for as low as $35,000. By 2020, Musk plans for the Tesla plant to produce up to 500,000 battery packs to fuel his vision of future transportation.
