8 ms·

Tesla selects Nevada for battery plant

190 points by velodrome 12y ago

jbarrow 12y ago
I'm glad to see they've finally made a decision. Harry Reid had expressed some concern [1] that Musk might have been playing Nevada with no real intention of building the Gigafactory there, so it's all well that it panned out. On an unrelated note, for anyone interested in tracking Tesla's supercharger progress, they have a map of current and planned stations across the three continents they've expanded into. [2] I enjoy checking it occasionally to see how much progress they've made. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/harry-reid-elon-musk-might-be-playing-nevada-2014-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/harry-reid-elon-musk-might-be... [2] http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger
- skwirl 12y ago
  I thought Reid might have been on to something when he said that. I'm glad that Tesla seems to be shooting straight, for now anyway.
- sneak 12y ago
  Playing? How?
  - dangerlibrary 12y ago
    Playing a state, in this context, would be securing regulatory concessions and tax incentives from Nevada without any intention of building a factory there. Those concessions could then be used as bargaining chips in the state in which they intended to build the plant.
    - sneak 12y ago
      It costs Nevada nothing if they don't actually build there. That's just negotiation.
Shivetya 12y ago
no individual or income taxes, how much did that weigh in the decision, or did Harry Reid weigh in?
- jonknee 12y ago
  It didn't weigh in at all most likely (as Tesla is based in California, they're not afraid of having employees pay state income tax). If you read the article you'll find out what did weigh the decision: > Based on Musk's public statements of what he expects a winning bid would be worth, the incentive package likely will total at least $500 million.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Which is requiring a special bill going through the NV legislature, as that level of incentive is passed the caps that are currently in place.
- colinloretz 12y ago
  Apple also received/is receiving additional incentives [1] for their new iCloud data centers which are being built near where Tesla is planning to put the gigafactory (the plot of land is already graded for the factory). For those interested, Katie Fehrenbacher from Gigaom did some great coverage last month of what is happening out here RE: Tesla and Apple.[2] 1. http://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/8-3-2012/apple-icloud-data-center-sparks-nv-262722.shtml http://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/8-3-2012/apple-iclo... 2. http://gigaom.com/2014/08/10/the-changing-face-of-reno-why-the-worlds-biggest-little-city-is-attracting-apple-tesla/ http://gigaom.com/2014/08/10/the-changing-face-of-reno-why-t...
  - bhhaskin 12y ago
    They broke ground on the gigafactory's pit and foundation a few months back.
- jahewson 12y ago
  Benefits for the employees don't matter nearly as much as benefits for the business. The business doesn't gain from lower income taxes, unless it pays its employees less, but then there's no benefit to the employees, plus they take a pre-tax wage cut which isn't much of a feel good factor. Employees will still have Federal income taxes at something around 25% depending on salary.
pchristensen 12y ago
"Tesla has said it would need about 10 million square feet" Wow, that's big! Reno always made sense - structurally cheaper than CA, but closer to the Fremont factory than even Los Angeles. Also, I hate business tax incentives, but $500M for a $5B factory + 6500 jobs is not terrible.
- jychang 12y ago
  It's hell in winter to get to Reno via 80 though. The highway can close a lot. I'm not sure about the rail lines, but I can imagine a lot of delays in infrastructure in winter either way. At least for a Fremont-LA line, you won't hit those snags in winter.
  - ChuckMcM 12y ago
    I would joke about adding a hyperloop between Reno and the Bay Area :-) Actually rail is pretty reliable through there, more so than the highway.
    - electromagnetic 12y ago
      I know here in Canada rail is far more reliable in winter than highway. Raised rail lines tend to stay clear of snow build up. Snow on the rails isn't a big issue, its more the build up that bottoms out the train. I doubt these will be being shipped by truck given the quantities we're dealing with. I also would not doubt an improvement in the infrastructure for a corporation bringing 6500 jobs and $5bn into the economy.
      - unchocked 12y ago
        The rails along that route (encompassing Donner Pass) are better than raised, they're roofed. It was brutal work, part of the original transcontinental line.
      - sparkman55 12y ago
        There's a really cool snowblower train that plies Donner Pass between Sacramento and Reno: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdRfvYHPAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdRfvYHPAY
toomuchtodo 12y ago
Did someone find out about this early? At around 4pm, there was a momentary ~$8 stock in the price of TSLA in after-hours trading. http://i.imgur.com/WOoJI1v.png http://i.imgur.com/WOoJI1v.png
- mrb 12y ago
  The uptick occured at 4:14pm ET, which is exactly when the news was first published at http://www.autonews.com/article/20140903/OEM05/140909950/tesla-to-locate-gigafactory-in-nevada-report-says http://www.autonews.com/article/20140903/OEM05/140909950/tes... (Automotive News were the first ones to learn about it and published the article at 4:13pm).
  - electromagnetic 12y ago
    Either someone's really fast, or I'm guessing this is autotraders that pick up on keywords.
    - tankenmate 12y ago
      Most hedge funds these days use tools to trawl news and social media sites so they can react quicker to news. I'm sure old school investment firms aren't far behind.
      - eigenvalue 12y ago
        It's hardly most hedge funds that do this. But there are a few that do, and since price is determined on the margin, it only takes a few to move the price.
- dave1619 12y ago
  This was most likely a missed trade from earlier in the day that was recorded after the trading day closed.
- koberstein 12y ago
  Check out the jump that happened on Western Lithium USA stock: http://imgur.com/XKV4paM http://imgur.com/XKV4paM
dave1619 12y ago
This isn't a spam post (I've been on HN for 4+ years and have good karma, see my profile)... But for those who want to keep up with Tesla in a simple and easy way, I recently started a weekly email newsletter (http://teslaweekly.com http://teslaweekly.com) that highlights the most notable Tesla news along with additional commentary. You can see the 1st edition at http://teslaweekly.com/issues/1 http://teslaweekly.com/issues/1 .
- brianstorms 12y ago
  Well, well, if it isn't DaveT. Um, yes, this is a spam post. :-)
  - dave1619 12y ago
    Oh well, I thought people might appreciate the info. But I understand.
    - aptwebapps 12y ago
      Most people here don't seem to mind a little self-promotion as long as it is at least on-topic and, better, actually useful or interesting.
      - johnward 12y ago
        Also I don't think it's the best idea to suggest your product might be spam when trying to market it :) Teslaweekly is relevant and I haven't seen it plastered on every tesla story on HN. Doesn't seem spammy to me at all.
        dave1619 12y ago
        Yeah I realized afterward that I shouldn't have said "this is not spam." I think I just wanted to pre-empt people from assuming that I was a HN newbie pushing spam and direct them to check out my HN profile/karma/past posts.
    - 12y ago
cdibona 12y ago
Nevada and Lithium: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Peak,_Nevada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Peak,_Nevada If the goal is to reduce the cost of production, nevada has a terrific 'local' source of lithium, which probably counted for something.
- rrggrr 12y ago
  Cheap geothermal and solar power. No state income tax. Close proximity to aerospace and defense employees and vendors. Reasonably close to Tesla. And, yes, close to major lithium deposits.
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    And, to remind everyone, Musk actually called various mining operations directly and secured some very good deals.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
yannibuk 12y ago
Basically, it's as close to California's engineering center as possible without having to deal with the expensive manufacturing environment that is California. Plus a huge incentive. Nice work, Tesla. The part about proximity to lithium & renewable energy is just PR fluff... but it can make you feel good when you are paying a few hundred dollars less for your car.
andrewfong 12y ago
Worth pointing out that at least two of the competitors against Nevada, Arizona and Texas, have laws on the books prohibiting direct sales (as opposed to going through a dealership). I'm sure that was a factor.
- ww520 12y ago
  Tesla could have used the factory as a leverage to remove those laws.
  - andrewfong 12y ago
    I think they tried with Arizona. As far as I know, it didn't happen.
D_Alex 12y ago
From the article: >At present, demand for electric vehicles is small. Through August, automakers have sold just over 40,000 fully electric cars this year, up 35 percent from a year ago..... At present, the supply of the electrical vehicles is low, and Tesla for one cannot keep up with the demand - as evidenced by the 5-month waiting list for a new Tesla model S. The new factory will drastically increase the supply, and we can expect the demand to grow further as the prices for electrical vehicles are reduced.
vegasbrianc 12y ago
Super news for Nevada! This is a state that really needs some jobs outside of the casino industry.
- vhost- 12y ago
  Agreed! I'm a native Nevadan that left Reno for tech. But my parents definitely need jobs :).
rdl 12y ago
I wonder if this will do anything to help turn Reno into more of a tech employment center in its own right.
- bhhaskin 12y ago
  It already is! Reno has changed quite a bit over the past few years. There are more and more small tech companies springing up.
koberstein 12y ago
For those interested, there will be a live stream announcement from Gov Sandoval at 4PM PST http://gov.nv.gov/ http://gov.nv.gov/

190 points by velodrome 12y ago

I'm glad to see they've finally made a decision. Harry Reid had expressed some concern [1] that Musk might have been playing Nevada with no real intention of building the Gigafactory there, so it's all well that it panned out. On an unrelated note, for anyone interested in tracking Tesla's supercharger progress, they have a map of current and planned stations across the three continents they've expanded into. [2] I enjoy checking it occasionally to see how much progress they've made. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/harry-reid-elon-musk-might-be-playing-nevada-2014-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/harry-reid-elon-musk-might-be... [2] http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

skwirl 12y ago
I thought Reid might have been on to something when he said that. I'm glad that Tesla seems to be shooting straight, for now anyway.
sneak 12y ago
Playing? How?
- dangerlibrary 12y ago
  Playing a state, in this context, would be securing regulatory concessions and tax incentives from Nevada without any intention of building a factory there. Those concessions could then be used as bargaining chips in the state in which they intended to build the plant.
  - sneak 12y ago
    It costs Nevada nothing if they don't actually build there. That's just negotiation.

Shivetya 12y ago

no individual or income taxes, how much did that weigh in the decision, or did Harry Reid weigh in?

jonknee 12y ago
It didn't weigh in at all most likely (as Tesla is based in California, they're not afraid of having employees pay state income tax). If you read the article you'll find out what did weigh the decision: > Based on Musk's public statements of what he expects a winning bid would be worth, the incentive package likely will total at least $500 million.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Which is requiring a special bill going through the NV legislature, as that level of incentive is passed the caps that are currently in place.
colinloretz 12y ago
Apple also received/is receiving additional incentives [1] for their new iCloud data centers which are being built near where Tesla is planning to put the gigafactory (the plot of land is already graded for the factory). For those interested, Katie Fehrenbacher from Gigaom did some great coverage last month of what is happening out here RE: Tesla and Apple.[2] 1. http://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/8-3-2012/apple-icloud-data-center-sparks-nv-262722.shtml http://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/8-3-2012/apple-iclo... 2. http://gigaom.com/2014/08/10/the-changing-face-of-reno-why-the-worlds-biggest-little-city-is-attracting-apple-tesla/ http://gigaom.com/2014/08/10/the-changing-face-of-reno-why-t...
- bhhaskin 12y ago
  They broke ground on the gigafactory's pit and foundation a few months back.
jahewson 12y ago
Benefits for the employees don't matter nearly as much as benefits for the business. The business doesn't gain from lower income taxes, unless it pays its employees less, but then there's no benefit to the employees, plus they take a pre-tax wage cut which isn't much of a feel good factor. Employees will still have Federal income taxes at something around 25% depending on salary.

pchristensen 12y ago

"Tesla has said it would need about 10 million square feet" Wow, that's big! Reno always made sense - structurally cheaper than CA, but closer to the Fremont factory than even Los Angeles. Also, I hate business tax incentives, but $500M for a $5B factory + 6500 jobs is not terrible.

jychang 12y ago
It's hell in winter to get to Reno via 80 though. The highway can close a lot. I'm not sure about the rail lines, but I can imagine a lot of delays in infrastructure in winter either way. At least for a Fremont-LA line, you won't hit those snags in winter.
- ChuckMcM 12y ago
  I would joke about adding a hyperloop between Reno and the Bay Area :-) Actually rail is pretty reliable through there, more so than the highway.
  - electromagnetic 12y ago
    I know here in Canada rail is far more reliable in winter than highway. Raised rail lines tend to stay clear of snow build up. Snow on the rails isn't a big issue, its more the build up that bottoms out the train. I doubt these will be being shipped by truck given the quantities we're dealing with. I also would not doubt an improvement in the infrastructure for a corporation bringing 6500 jobs and $5bn into the economy.
    - unchocked 12y ago
      The rails along that route (encompassing Donner Pass) are better than raised, they're roofed. It was brutal work, part of the original transcontinental line.
    - sparkman55 12y ago
      There's a really cool snowblower train that plies Donner Pass between Sacramento and Reno: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdRfvYHPAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdRfvYHPAY

toomuchtodo 12y ago

Did someone find out about this early? At around 4pm, there was a momentary ~$8 stock in the price of TSLA in after-hours trading. http://i.imgur.com/WOoJI1v.png http://i.imgur.com/WOoJI1v.png

mrb 12y ago
The uptick occured at 4:14pm ET, which is exactly when the news was first published at http://www.autonews.com/article/20140903/OEM05/140909950/tesla-to-locate-gigafactory-in-nevada-report-says http://www.autonews.com/article/20140903/OEM05/140909950/tes... (Automotive News were the first ones to learn about it and published the article at 4:13pm).
- electromagnetic 12y ago
  Either someone's really fast, or I'm guessing this is autotraders that pick up on keywords.
  - tankenmate 12y ago
    Most hedge funds these days use tools to trawl news and social media sites so they can react quicker to news. I'm sure old school investment firms aren't far behind.
    - eigenvalue 12y ago
      It's hardly most hedge funds that do this. But there are a few that do, and since price is determined on the margin, it only takes a few to move the price.
dave1619 12y ago
This was most likely a missed trade from earlier in the day that was recorded after the trading day closed.
koberstein 12y ago
Check out the jump that happened on Western Lithium USA stock: http://imgur.com/XKV4paM http://imgur.com/XKV4paM

dave1619 12y ago

This isn't a spam post (I've been on HN for 4+ years and have good karma, see my profile)... But for those who want to keep up with Tesla in a simple and easy way, I recently started a weekly email newsletter (http://teslaweekly.com http://teslaweekly.com) that highlights the most notable Tesla news along with additional commentary. You can see the 1st edition at http://teslaweekly.com/issues/1 http://teslaweekly.com/issues/1 .

brianstorms 12y ago
Well, well, if it isn't DaveT. Um, yes, this is a spam post. :-)
- dave1619 12y ago
  Oh well, I thought people might appreciate the info. But I understand.
  - aptwebapps 12y ago
    Most people here don't seem to mind a little self-promotion as long as it is at least on-topic and, better, actually useful or interesting.
    - johnward 12y ago
      Also I don't think it's the best idea to suggest your product might be spam when trying to market it :) Teslaweekly is relevant and I haven't seen it plastered on every tesla story on HN. Doesn't seem spammy to me at all.
      - dave1619 12y ago
        Yeah I realized afterward that I shouldn't have said "this is not spam." I think I just wanted to pre-empt people from assuming that I was a HN newbie pushing spam and direct them to check out my HN profile/karma/past posts.
  - 12y ago

cdibona 12y ago

Nevada and Lithium: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Peak,_Nevada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Peak,_Nevada If the goal is to reduce the cost of production, nevada has a terrific 'local' source of lithium, which probably counted for something.

rrggrr 12y ago
Cheap geothermal and solar power. No state income tax. Close proximity to aerospace and defense employees and vendors. Reasonably close to Tesla. And, yes, close to major lithium deposits.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  And, to remind everyone, Musk actually called various mining operations directly and secured some very good deals.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

yannibuk 12y ago

Basically, it's as close to California's engineering center as possible without having to deal with the expensive manufacturing environment that is California. Plus a huge incentive. Nice work, Tesla. The part about proximity to lithium & renewable energy is just PR fluff... but it can make you feel good when you are paying a few hundred dollars less for your car.

andrewfong 12y ago

Worth pointing out that at least two of the competitors against Nevada, Arizona and Texas, have laws on the books prohibiting direct sales (as opposed to going through a dealership). I'm sure that was a factor.

ww520 12y ago
Tesla could have used the factory as a leverage to remove those laws.
- andrewfong 12y ago
  I think they tried with Arizona. As far as I know, it didn't happen.

D_Alex 12y ago

From the article: >At present, demand for electric vehicles is small. Through August, automakers have sold just over 40,000 fully electric cars this year, up 35 percent from a year ago..... At present, the supply of the electrical vehicles is low, and Tesla for one cannot keep up with the demand - as evidenced by the 5-month waiting list for a new Tesla model S. The new factory will drastically increase the supply, and we can expect the demand to grow further as the prices for electrical vehicles are reduced.

vegasbrianc 12y ago

Super news for Nevada! This is a state that really needs some jobs outside of the casino industry.

vhost- 12y ago
Agreed! I'm a native Nevadan that left Reno for tech. But my parents definitely need jobs :).

rdl 12y ago

I wonder if this will do anything to help turn Reno into more of a tech employment center in its own right.

bhhaskin 12y ago
It already is! Reno has changed quite a bit over the past few years. There are more and more small tech companies springing up.

koberstein 12y ago

For those interested, there will be a live stream announcement from Gov Sandoval at 4PM PST http://gov.nv.gov/ http://gov.nv.gov/