Tesla Hedges on Nevada Site for Battery “Gigafactory”
Tesla Motors Inc. says it broke ground in June near Reno, Nev., for its first $5 billion electric-car battery factory.
#hybrid
Tesla Motors Inc. says it broke ground in June near Reno, Nev., for its first $5 billion electric-car battery factory.
But the California-based EV maker adds that it continues to consider other sites in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas and will launch similar site-prep work in at least one other location.
Last week Tesla signed Panasonic Corp. as a major partner in the project, which aims to begin making lithium-ion EV batteries by 2017 at one or more 10 million-sq-ft "gigafactories" in the western U.S.
CEO Elon Musk says he expects his company will pay 40%-50% of the cost of the factory. He figures state incentives will contribute about 10% of the cost.
Musk tells analysts it "made sense" to begin site work even as the company awaits the best state-level financial deal to finalize the locations. He says Tesla won't start "pouring a lot of concrete" until it receives final incentive packages from the candidate states.
Musk also says Tesla won't make final site selections until the end of this year.
RELATED CONTENT
-
The U.S. Military Finds New Roads: Fuel Cell Powered Pickups
While it seems that fuel efficiency as related to the U.S. federal government is all about light duty vehicles, that’s far from being the case.
-
Honda to Make Hybrids in Thailand
Honda Motor Co. is preparing to launch production in Thailand of hybrid cars and the batteries that help power them.
-
Special Report: Toyota & Issues Electric
Although Toyota’s focus on hybrid powertrains at the seeming expense of the development of a portfolio of full battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for the market could cause some concern among those of an environmental orientation, in that Toyota doesn’t seem to be sufficiently supportive of the environment, in their estimation. Here’s something that could cause a reconsideration of that point of view.