San Jose Wins Bid For Tesla Electric Car Facility

In a major coup for the city of San Jose, CA, Tesla Motors — of Roadster fame — has chosen a 90-acre lot in an industrial area of the city as the site of its new manufacturing facility and headquarters.

Back in June, the Governator himself was lamenting about the prospect that Tesla Motors — one of the state’s own shining green corporate stars — might pass up California in favor of New Mexico as the location for its future facilities.

But, after some serious wheeling and dealing, Schwarzenegger convinced Tesla that California was the right place to build by promising beucoup tax incentives and major financial help. His package included a government-funded lease-to-own option that would save Tesla from purchasing $100 million of equipment up front, and waive $8 million in taxes to boot.

Above and beyond the state’s financial incentives, the deal with San Jose involves a 40-year lease in which Tesla has the first 10 years rent-free and all development fees rebated in the form of tax credits. Gotta hand it to Tesla, they certainly know how to work the system.

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In anticipation of dramatic future growth after the upcoming introduction of their next EV — a more affordable ($60K) 4-door sedan dubbed the Model S — the new facility is clearly key to Tesla’s business plan.

Reportedly, the Model S will be followed further down the road by cars that are truly affordable to the vast majority of Americans. According to an AP release, Tesla CEO Ze’ev Drori said that the future of Tesla involved servicing the entire car market and not being relegated to a niche

Although this is good news for the rest of us, and I understand Tesla’s business model, I still hate the idea of having to wait so long when other start-up companies are providing electric cars to the masses right off the bat instead of only to the rich upper crust.

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Image Credit: Tesla Motors
Source: The Mercury News

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