San Antonio in play for Giga Factory

Cattledog · Mar 27, 2014

San Antonio in Play for Giga Factory

While Panasonic may be waffling, San Antonio is not. Local leaders entertained Tesla executives yesterday and pitched the positives of a San Antonio Giga Factory. The story is from the San Antonio Express-News today.

San Antonio's excellent workforce, low cost structure, connected transportation infrastructure, and renewable-friendly municipal utility CPS make it an excellent choice for the GigaFactory.

And there are some pretty good looking cars there too.

TESLA Execs Secretly Visits SA
By Josh Baugh and Greg Jefferson
March 26, 2014 | Updated: March 26, 2014 11:01pm

Tesla execs secretly visit S.A. - San Antonio Express-News

TSLAopt · Mar 27, 2014

Great article...good to see Tesla is active in their search

Cattledog · Mar 28, 2014

brianstorms said:
I hope the GF goes to New Mexico.

Ah, what's another 800 miles to the southeast! We'll agree to disagree. Good luck to all pursuing this game changing project.

visagrunt · Mar 28, 2014

From a strategic perspective, I wonder whether a change to the direct sales law is too little "quo" for the "quid" that Tesla has to put on the table? If the direct sales law falls anyway, or if current work arounds are acceptable to Texas based Tesla customers, then what is Tesla gaining by putting the factory in San Antonio?

On the principle that you don't let the other side negotiate with something that you're going to get anyway (or that you don't need), I think New Mexico might still be in an advantageous position to negotiate a sweeter deal for the GF.

KenEE · Mar 28, 2014

Although I would be happy for San Antonio (or whomever gets the GF), I would rather they just use some of the giant facilities they already have.

Turning a real business need (lots more batteries) into a political carrot will bloat the time and cost thus delaying the benefits and blowing the costs through the roof.

Bardlebee · Mar 28, 2014

If the Gigafactory comes to San Antonio, I am going to see if they will hire me to work for them. I doubt a factory however could use my services sadly.

Probably not a lot of network engineering needed in a factory, comparatively to where I work now.

Also, I would imagine they are looking at Texas as well because from what I hear Texas is a very large customer and still one of the few states banned.

Cattledog · Mar 28, 2014

visagrunt said:
From a strategic perspective, I wonder whether a change to the direct sales law is too little "quo" for the "quid" that Tesla has to put on the table? If the direct sales law falls anyway, or if current work arounds are acceptable to Texas based Tesla customers, then what is Tesla gaining by putting the factory in San Antonio?

On the principle that you don't let the other side negotiate with something that you're going to get anyway (or that you don't need), I think New Mexico might still be in an advantageous position to negotiate a sweeter deal for the GF.

The changing dealership laws in Texas are just a smidge of icing. San Antonio has the largest, and perhaps most innovative, municipally owned public utility(ies) in the country. They are nimble and can put together a great package for Tesla. It could include a lot of things, but the one that intrigues me the most is they could become the test market for utility scale, commercial, and residential fixed storage solutions. Rather than run those 'Peaker' Units on hot summer days to buffer demand, what if San Antonio committed to buy an Gigawatt of storage that would tie to the solar arrays they are building with OCI? What if they now sold some of that excess to other states whose peakers are really expensive?

Texas already is the country's number one state for wind power. Cost of living is low, there are great engineering schools in San Antonio, Austin, College Station, Houston. No state income tax. Fun place for Elon and JB to visit when hanging out after factory visits. And I'd pick them up at the airport every time, no charge, other than the electrical one...

blakegallagher · Mar 28, 2014

Wow ... this would be great ! I had not even considered the possibility that this could be located so close to home.

Neech · Apr 2, 2014

As long as Texas is home to the likes of the Koch brothers and Frackquakes, Tesla should keep looking for a more welcoming state. It's great to see San Antonio making progress in green energy, there are too many negatives within Texas.

Beckler · Apr 2, 2014

Since Tesla is single-handedly about to shut down the world's fossil fuel industry, nobody need worry. Eventually there will be a gigafactory in every state.

claytorj · Apr 3, 2014

Great article. Poor form by the OP. Rather than quote the whole article verbatim, just quote 1-2 paragraphs and then link to the story. Maybe the OP or a mod can tidy this up?

Tesla execs secretly visit S.A. - San Antonio Express-News

Doug_G · Apr 3, 2014

claytorj said:
Great article. Poor form by the OP. Rather than quote the whole article verbatim, just quote 1-2 paragraphs and then link to the story. Maybe the OP or a mod can tidy this up?

Thanks for pointing that out. I have edited the first post for compliance with copyright law and the site terms of service.

Search

San Antonio in play for Giga Factory

Cattledog

Active Member

TSLAopt

Active Member

Cattledog

Active Member

visagrunt

Member

KenEE

P1919 Reward Excellence!

Bardlebee

Member

Cattledog

Active Member

blakegallagher

Member

Neech

Member

Beckler

Member

claytorj

Member

Doug_G

Lead Moderator

Similar threads