Tesla Inc is zeroing in on an area in southeast Austin, Texas, for the electric-vehicle maker’s second US auto factory and first pickup plant.
The company has filed an application with an Austin-area school district in Travis County seeking a tax abatement, publicly filed documents showed.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk in March announced that the Silicon Valley-based automaker has begun scouting for sites to produce its Cybertruck, which is still in development, and Model Y crossover for customers on the US east coast.
Photo: Reuters
“Tesla is evaluating the possible development, design and construction of an electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in Travis County,” the company said in the filing.
The 850-hectare site under consideration is currently a ready mix concrete facility owned by Martin Marietta Materials Inc.
Construction is proposed to start in the third quarter of this year, pending all required approvals.
Oklahoma remains in contention for the factory, the filing showed, and Musk on Thursday tweeted that Tesla had not yet bought the land in Texas.
Tesla’s proposed 372,000m2 to 465,000m2 plant would eventually employ 5,000 workers and become its fourth worldwide for vehicle assembly.
The company bought its first factory in Fremont, California, from Toyota Motor Corp in the wake of the global financial crisis for just US$42 million.
Early this year, it started making Model 3 sedans on the outskirts of Shanghai and is planning to begin output of vehicles near Berlin next year.
Tesla said that eight states were initially identified as viable contenders and that it has received incentive package offers, without giving specifics.
It has since narrowed the search and said its ability to win a school tax abatement from the Del Valle Independent School District would weigh heavily on its plant location decision.
“This is especially critical in Texas due to the high level of real and personal property taxes relative to other states,” the company said.
Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce Sean Kouplen on Thursday said that Tulsa is still a finalist and the state has put forward a “responsible performance-based incentives package” to attract Tesla.
“We believe Oklahoma would be the right choice for Tesla,” Kouplen said in a statement. “We’re centrally located, we’re a pro-business state, our Automotive Engineer Workforce Tax Credit will benefit both Tesla and the engineers that they recruit and our amazing quality of life is a huge plus.”
The proposed deal with the Texas school district makes use of a state tax program that allows districts to grant breaks to economic-development projects. The state then repays the district.
The program “has been very controversial,” University of Texas-Austin government professor Nate Jensen said. “There have been a lot of scandals around incentivizing companies that were coming anyway.”
Musk’s declaration that Tesla would build the plant prompted a chorus of offers from cities and states across the country hoping to land the project.
The move was reminiscent of the company’s 2014 announcement that it planned to build a massive battery factory. It chose Nevada after the state offered US$1.3 billion in incentives.
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