Plant will mean 6,500 new jobs
Electric-auto manufacturer Tesla will build a $5 billion lithium ion battery factory in Northern Nevada, the company has announced. Governor Brian Sandoval announced the deal last week in Carson City.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, it’s all about location: the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is four hours from Fremont, California, home of the Tesla plant, and three hours from America’s only active lithium plant. In addition, reported the Sun, the Silver State is loaded with lithium.
The new plan is expected to produce more than all of the lithium-ion currently made in the world today, according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal is good for Nevada?the plant could create 6,500 new jobs?and has nice incentives for Tesla as well: the high-end electric car maker will get at least $400 million in tax breaks from the state.
Four other states lobbied for the contract: California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
That deal is likely the largest package for any American auto maker in the history of the industry, reported the Journal.
Not everyone is happy. In the Reno Gazette-Journal, Geoffrey Lawrence of the Nevada Policy Research Institute asked, “Why would lawmakers want to take from poor and middle-class families to subsidize a billionaire making cars for millionaires?”
