Local economic developers across the US are chomping at the bit hoping that very soon Tesla will announce where it will locate its Gigafactory. The battery factory is estimated to be 10 million square feet and employ 6,500.
Who’s in the running?
Allen Young of the Sacramento Business Journal put together a summary of the cities under consideration.
Here's a rundown of frequently cited cities that have been identified as possible sites for the factory.
Dallas
What we know: Sources told the Dallas Business Journal this month that Tesla has its eye on a 700-acre site off Interstate 45 in southeast Dallas County. The site has easy access to Interstates 45, 35 and 20 with $200 million worth of infrastructure planned in the region.
Dallas also could come up with major tax-incentives offered by Gov. Rick Perry, who in June drove a Tesla Model S through downtown Sacramento for a photo op and bragged to reporters that he wanted the car to have “a made-in-Texas bumper sticker.”
Reno
What we know: Fifty large earth movers began work on a site dubbed Project Tiger, enough heavy metal to build the 10 million-square-foot site, according to Greentech Media. But this week, the work reportedly stopped, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Notable:Besides California, Reno is in the state that's geographically closest to the company's Fremont factory. The only lithium mine in the country is located there. Lance Gilman, principal at the Reno Tahoe industrial center and its director of marketing, told USA Today in June that he has been working with Tesla "for months." But there was no signed transaction.
Stockton
What we know: Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, told the Los Angeles Times that Stockton was the “clear winner” if Tesla decides to locate in California.
Notable:Stockton is about an hour drive from the company’s car assembly line and 14 minutes from Tesla’s new parts factory in Lathrop.
Stanislaus and Merced counties
What we know: Keith Boggs, an assistant executive officer for Stanislaus County, told the Modesto Bee he met with Tesla staff a few months ago at a former Navy base to talk about testing vehicles on the runways. Boggs said the former Crows Landing base is large enough for the battery plant.
Notable:Assemblyman Adam Gray, a Merced Democrat, said he is putting together a local working group to promote sites in Stanislaus and Merced counties.
