2024 Tesla Model Y Long Range on 2040-cars

Auto blog

More speculation about Tesla Gigafactory announcement

Should we all be laying our chips down on Nevada for Tesla's proposed Gigafactory? At least a few news sources are saying yes, though another says there's a remote chance of a San Francisco Bay Area site getting the nod. Real remote. The frontrunner appears to be the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, which is about 20 miles east of Reno proper and includes warehousing sites for Walmart, Dell and Petsmart, Transport Evolved says. Compared to other states in the running, Nevada has the advantages of lower taxes, lots of cheap real estate and some lithium-mining capabilities, while the specific site has very good highway and rail access. There's also already a li-ion company there, Dragonfly Energy. Feeding that belief is the sight of about 50 earthmoving trucks recently spotted at that site, says ValueWalk, Greentech Media and Jalopnik, in addition to Transport Evolved. But then we heard that the site had been shut down. Nobody involved is giving any clues, but the site is plenty big enough for a $5 billion, 10-million-square-foot plant that would support about 6,500 jobs. Meanwhile, Tesla may also be considering the former Concord Naval Weapons Station about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco and 45 miles north of Tesla's Fremont headquarters, says KTVU, the NBC affiliate for the San Francisco Bay Area. The problem is that's a Superfund site in need of some remediation. But that sort of cleaning project could be a good fit for a company focused on "clean" energy. Tesla is, of course, declining to comment. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said early last month that it was in "quite advanced" stages of planning for the plant, or perhaps two plants, and that the company was meeting on a daily basis with partner and battery-supplier Panasonic. The company is expected to officially announce the location of the Gigafactory later this year, and it could be up and running by the end of 2016.

California could ease environmental mandate for Tesla Gigafactory

California may ease some of its decades-old environmental mandates for potential developments in an effort to get electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors to build its gigafactory in the Golden State. There is a certain irony in that, but given that the $5-billion factory could bring 6,500 green jobs to the state, it's not surprising. State legislators and Tesla representatives are in talks about easing some portions of the California Environment Quality Act (CEQA) for the sake of expedience, the Los Angeles Times reports, citing state Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Rocklin). Additionally, the state may give tax breaks worth about a half-billion dollars to Palo Alto-based Tesla, whose current vehicle factory is in nearby Fremont. Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis-Shean, in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen, would only say that California is "in the running" for the gigafactory site, though declined to comment further on negotiations. Not everyone would be happy with such an agreement, of course. The Sierra Club is already on record as crying foul for possible CEQA exemptions. There's been no shortage of speculation on the possible location for the gigafactory, which should be open by 2017 and has been talked about landing in just about every southwestern US state except California. Most recently, Nevada and its Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center emerged as the proverbial lead dog, with its lower taxes, cheap real estate and lithium-mining capabilities. Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are also being considered for the giant plant.

This map shows where Tesla can and can't sell cars

The fine folks at Mojo Motors recently put together a US map showing where the Tesla Model S electric vehicles can and can't be legally sold. They marked the "legal" states in blue, "illegal" states in red and "in legislation" states in that proverbial gray area. And darn if that colorful map didn't match up pretty well with a political-party map of the country. 24 states are technically Tesla-ready. Of the 50 US states, 24 states are technically Tesla-ready, in addition to Washington, DC. And while some (California, New York, Massachusetts and Washington State) were pretty obvious, others (Mississippi and Georgia, for example) surprised us a little. We were also interested to see that Arizona and West Virginia were marked as "in legislation" but Ohio and New Jersey were not, given the fights there. In any case, Texas is red. Bright red. Tesla Supercharger locations are also marked, but Tesla's constantly updated map is likely a better source for that info after a few weeks have passed. If you'd like to dig into the nitty gritty of the various dealer franchise laws, then use the same source that Mojo Motors' marketing manager Max Katsarelas used to make the map, an article in the Georgia State University Law Review from 2002. Check out footnote 153 on page 23 for all the details. While he did integrate current news reports, Katsarelas told AutoblogGreen that he had to update the map recently after finding out that Oregon and Indiana do allow Tesla sales. With the ongoing legislation fights, we don't expect this map to remain current all that long. Still, you can even click it to enlarge. The legality of Tesla being able to sell directly to consumers without third-party dealership franchises could some day change from the patchwork you see above into a single color. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) went on record as saying that Missouri and New Jersey should reconsider its policies that would prevent automakers from direct consumer sales. It's not a national rule, but it is a step in that direction.