I may be wrong, but I think it is the deal with the city that is final. The Environmental impact is still forthcoming. I vaguely remember that they expect the impact report to be done to allow them to start building by late Spring or the Summer.
Instead, Konrad said Tesla has applied for about $400 million in two federal, low-interest loans through the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program. It is seeking $250 million for the Model S manufacturing facility and $150 million for an advanced battery and powertrain facility.
The Zanker Road location no longer works because it’s an undeveloped “greenfield site,” and Tesla would build on it from scratch. The federal loan program favors “brownfields,” sites on which factories or plants closed years ago and need to be rehabilitated.
Word made it around the Mayor's State of the City yesterday that Tesla's plans may already be dead. According to spies, someone with direct knowledge of Tesla's plans for San Jose was describing how the plans for the 650,000 square foot assembly plant for San Jose have been "abandoned"...
I really hope they can work something out for the Bay Area.
Hopefully they don't end up disappointing California by ending up in Michigan or something like that.
What's wrong with assembling a vehicle in Michigan? Michigan has many auto plants that have been recently shuttered. Those plants were offered to Tesla for less then $1000 by the state government.
I don't understand Tesla's logic on that one: they would rather spend a quarter billion dollars on constructing a plant in CA then get an existing plant for next to nothing in MI. Any businessperson would see that as a no brainer....
Instead, Konrad said Tesla is now looking and in negotiations for potential brownfields throughout the state, from those left over in Southern California by the aeronautics industry to Silicon Valley sites that housed chip plants, wafer fabrication and technology factories.
“Our thinking is now we want to keep the headquarters in Silicon Valley and the Model S assembly plant wherever it is most cost-effective and most expedient to get the car to market as fast as possible for the lowest cost,” she said.
So it sounds to me like they don't have any sites picked out for the Model S plant as of now, based on the quote above.
Even if they get an existing brownfield site, it will still be around two years to get all the EPA permits ironed out, purchase factory capital equipment, set up the lines, hire and train personal. This stuff always takes longer then expected.
So if the Model S were to accidentally happen, I can't see one hitting the road until at least 2012 or 2013.
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