Tesla Motors Inc. has selected San Jose, Calif., for the site of an electric-car assembly plant that will also include a corporate campus and research and development center where the company will employ an estimated 1,000 workers, said President and CEO Ze'ev Drori in a statement released Sept. 17.
The company will build its zero-emission, five-passenger Model S luxury sedan at the $250 million facility. The Model S will be more modestly priced than Tesla's $109,000 Roadster sports car. The company expects the base price for the Model S will be about $60,000. The car, which operates on a lithium-ion battery pack, will get approximately 240 miles per charge, according to Drori.
Tesla selected San Jose because of its highly skilled engineering base and support infrastructure. Construction on the facility, which will be located 20 miles from its current headquarters in San Carlos, is expected to begin in the summer of 2009.
The first sedans are expected to roll off the assembly line in late 2010. Tesla will produce between 15,000 and 30,000 cars per year.
Drori says the facility signals the job-creation potential of green manufacturing.
"The new corporate campus is tremendous news for Tesla, and it's just the latest in a string of positive announcements -- a refreshing change of pace from the gloom and doom of Wall Street in recent weeks," wrote Drori. "Our success is proof that clean tech can really drive job creation in the 21st century, leading to dramatic improvements in the economy and the environment."
