Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk declared on Thursday that Reno, Nevada, will be getting a new neighbour: the largest lithium battery factory in the world. The state has beaten California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico in a fierce bidding war to be the home of this $5-billion “gigafactory.” This follows an earlier announcement that Tesla and Panasonic have teamed up to establish a battery factory together.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval projects that this initiative will create more than 22, 000 new jobs and pump $100 billion into the state’s economy over the next 20 years. The factory is set to produce cheaper batteries for the anticipated less-expensive Tesla electric cars.
Sandoval has unveiled a package that will offer Tesla tax breaks and incentives worth as much as $1.3 billion, which was negotiated in secret nearly a year ago. The plant will be built in an industrial park about 25 kilometres east of Sparks, a Reno suburb founded a century ago.
While the package is awaiting approval from the lawmakers in a special Legislature meeting, Sandoval says that this is a monumental announcement that will change Nevada forever.
On the other side of the country, in Georgia, Tesla has also caused a bit of a fuss with the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association who are petitioning the Georgia Department of Revenue to stop Tesla from selling so many cars in the state.
The claim says that the electric motor company has sold 173 of the Model S vehicles in Georgia in 2014, which goes past the company’s vehicle-selling limit of 150 units in the state per year. The Georgia Automobile Dealers Association, a group of over 500 car dealers, wants the state to revoke the company’s dealer license and deny them the ability to apply for a new one as punishment for selling more cars than it was allowed.
Derrick Dickey, spokesman for the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association, recognizes that there is a real demand for electric cars in Georgia, but he wants Tesla to sell cars in compliance with the law.
Despite the minor hiccup in Georgia, this has been a good year for Tesla, having recently announced agreements with prolific companies like Panasonic and BMW.
