Tesla Gigafactory Investor Thread

[sleepyhead]

I would build the plant in Austin, TX which is the biggest tech city outside of the Bay Area. You also have The University of Texas here that could help with research and send graduates to work at Tesla.

I think it is a no-brainer decision to put it in or near Austin, TX. That is exactly what I would do.

You then have your Headquarters in Silicon Valley and your battery plant in Austin, TX, which also happens to be the second city in the US with Google Fiber.

Austin is by far the best place to build the plant. The tech talent out here is only second to the Bay Area.

 

[FluxCap]

I would build the plant in Austin, TX which is the biggest tech city outside of the Bay Area. You also have The University of Texas here that could help with research and send graduates to work at Tesla.

I think it is a no-brainer decision to put it in or near Austin, TX. That is exactly what I would do.

You then have your Headquarters in Silicon Valley and your battery plant in Austin, TX, who also happens to be the second city in the US with Google Fiber.

Austin is by far the best place to build the plant. The tech talent out here is only second to the Bay Area.

Now that is a fantastic idea. Still, not as snarky and fun as Houston maybe . But maybe something like an oil field in La Grange, right in between them?

 

[airj1012]

Someone posted these maps in another thread I found. Shows the geographically areas that are favorable to wind and solar.

Wind - http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/...t_hero_respondxl/public/wind_speed_map_lg.jpg
Solar - http://energy.gov/maps/solar-energy-potential

 

[austinEV]

I would build the plant in Austin, TX which is the biggest tech city outside of the Bay Area. You also have The University of Texas here that could help with research and send graduates to work at Tesla.

I think it is a no-brainer decision to put it in or near Austin, TX. That is exactly what I would do.

You then have your Headquarters in Silicon Valley and your battery plant in Austin, TX, which also happens to be the second city in the US with Google Fiber.

Austin is by far the best place to build the plant. The tech talent out here is only second to the Bay Area.

Plus me and Sleepy would go work there. Heck I will take a half salary, just add some options.

 

[airj1012]

I would build the plant in Austin, TX which is the biggest tech city outside of the Bay Area. You also have The University of Texas here that could help with research and send graduates to work at Tesla.

I think it is a no-brainer decision to put it in or near Austin, TX. That is exactly what I would do.

You then have your Headquarters in Silicon Valley and your battery plant in Austin, TX, which also happens to be the second city in the US with Google Fiber.

Austin is by far the best place to build the plant. The tech talent out here is only second to the Bay Area.

I really don't think that Tesla will be searching for college graduates for most of the 6.5K employees they need. I imagine this factory will essentially be in the middle of no where. With the size of the facility they need some cheap ground that is close the natural resources and also provides a good route back to Fremont, CA. My bet is NV or AZ.

 

[sleepyhead]

I really don't think that Tesla will be searching for college graduates for most of the 6.5K employees they need. I imagine this factory will essentially be in the middle of no where. With the size of the facility they need some cheap ground that is close the natural resources and also provides a good route back to Fremont, CA. My bet is NV or AZ.

It is not really about college students, that is just a bonus. It is more about being the biggest tech city outside of the Bay Area.

 

[bonnie]

I'll hazard a guess that 'within a day's drive of Fremont' is high on the priority list - and I'll put my money on Arizona. (And there is a certain someone here who has already lost a bet to me regarding location...)

 

[sleepyhead]

Plus me and Sleepy would go work there. Heck I will take a half salary, just add some options.

Yes.

When they ask what I want for compensation, I will tell them that I want a very high number of very deep OTM options with similar vesting restrictions to what Elon Musk has in his options package.

If they say, "how does $100k in salary and 1000 restricted shares sound?" I would say, "how about $80k and 10,000 options with $500 strike price that never expire?"

 

[FluxCap]

Yes.

When they ask what I want for compensation, I will tell them that I want a very high number of very deep OTM options with similar vesting restrictions to what Elon Musk has in his options package.

If they say, "how does $100k in salary and 1000 restricted shares sound?" I would say, "how about $80k and 10,000 options with $500 strike price that never expire?"

Sign me up!

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Someone posted these maps in another thread I found. Shows the geographically areas that are favorable to wind and solar.

Wind - http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/images/windmaps/us_windmap_80meters_820w.jpg
Solar - http://www.nrel.gov/gis/images/map_csp_us_annual_may2004.jpg

Very cool maps, thanks for sharing.

 

[RobStark]

It is not really about college students, that is just a bonus. It is more about being the biggest tech city outside of the Bay Area.

If they thought building the Gigafactory in a tech City offered a comparative advantage they would build it in Silicon Valley.

Panasonic and suppliers have the manufacturing expertise and will probably bring employees from Japan to teach American employees.

Reno is closest to Fremont of the cities in the area remaining in contention, has rail from Reno to Fremont, cheap land, good business climate and near new lithium mines.

 

[AlMc]

I'll hazard a guess that 'within a day's drive of Fremont' is high on the priority list - and I'll put my money on Arizona. (And there is a certain someone here who has already lost a bet to me regarding location...)

:biggrin: What is the saying? ' It's not over till it's over'!! How many beers do I owe you now anyway?

- - - Updated - - -

Yes.

When they ask what I want for compensation, I will tell them that I want a very high number of very deep OTM options with similar vesting restrictions to what Elon Musk has in his options package.

If they say, "how does $100k in salary and 1000 restricted shares sound?" I would say, "how about $80k and 10,000 options with $500 strike price that never expire?"

I have a real problem with this!!! You won't be able to give out advice on TSLA movements. I will put in a call to Elon and nix that deal right away:biggrin:

 

[sleepyhead]

I think that some people are underestimating the need for engineering and tech talent in such a battery factory. This is where all of the research will be done to advance battery technology I would assume.

You can't just build a battery factory in the middle of nowhere and expect top talent to want to move to that city. Now, Reno is a nice big city, so it is definitely in the running. But Austin is one of the best cities to live in and Tesla as well could really benefit a ton from a place like Austin.

 

[bonnie]

Awww, Sleepy ... I know you love Austin. Heck, I love Austin. But it's not the only city with a tech population. Intel has a huge presence, for instance, in Chandler, AZ. And they're in the middle of a cutback. That means a number of appropriately skilled employees available now.

 

[austinEV]

Austin has lots of experience in the semiconductor fab world. Wouldn't be hard to transfer that experience.

Seems like a proxy bidding war is breaking out

 

[Causalien]

I'll hazard a guess that 'within a day's drive of Fremont' is high on the priority list - and I'll put my money on Arizona. (And there is a certain someone here who has already lost a bet to me regarding location...)

I never bet against Bonnie.

On the location note. I think, based on the Taiwanese supplier's information releases to date, the most likely location is in Arizona as most of them have already announced plans to establish factories in Arizona. They did not mention Tesla in their release, but I find it suspicious that all of them all decided to setup a factory in Arizona within the last 3 months.

 

[sleepyhead]

Awww, Sleepy ... I know you love Austin. Heck, I love Austin. But it's not the only city with a tech population. Intel has a huge presence, for instance, in Chandler, AZ. And they're in the middle of a cutback. That means a number of appropriately skilled employees available now.

Awww, they have Intel... that's cute.

I really don't care if the GF comes to Austin or not, because I would rather spend my time on TMC investing and trading TSLA rather than working for Tesla with trading restrictions.

BTW, Austin has:

Dell
IBM
APPLE
AMD

a bunch of semiconductor companies such as Freescale.

and a lot of other tech companies such as Flextronics, National Instruments, or Sunpower.

I think that Tesla is at least considering Austin right now; it probably will not win, but I would not count it out.

 

[airj1012]

My vote is on Nevada. Close to Fremont and close to Wyoming which has the lithium. Can we set up a poll?

 

[Cosmacelf]

And lastly the guys at zerohedge are idiots and always looking for conspiracy theories and other imminent market crashes that either aren't there or never materialize.

Some blogs I read often link to Zerohedge, and when I click on such links, I go "Gawd, not another end of the world article."

 

[GenIIIBuyer]

The days after the 2008 crisis when I read Zerohedge got me depressed and questioning my own sound judgment, and then I realized the truth. Those are some seriously, perpetually unhappy people whose conversations inevitably devolve to "hoard canned goods, guns and gold bricks in your underground shelter, every other investment is futile."

Agree with Sleepy, not worth paying much attention to.

And on Adam Jonas' report -- research and investment divisions are walled off and regulated by SEC accordingly. Insider trading means jail time. This is normal, everyday stuff on Wall Street, and no cause for alarm. The shorts are desperate, and looking for any shred of negativity to come up with.

GigaFactory is nothing less than the dawn of a new era for Tesla Motors, and perhaps even the US economy!

Hahaha, I have a large 100 oz silver paperweight at home due to a zerohedge reading binge a few years back. Would have been much more fruitful to buy 100 shares of TSLA..

 

[airj1012]

I think that Tesla is at least considering Austin right now; it probably will not win, but I would not count it out.

I do not. They need cheap land. They're setting up a HUGE factory. Tesla needs 500-1000 acres for 10 million square feet. I HIGHLY doubt this factory will be in a major city. What other huge factors are in major cities? In comparison Fremont is only 5.4 million square feet.

We're not hating on your city, but what you're offering isn't needed. Tesla needs LOTS of cheap land near natural resources (solar, wind, lithium) and highly accessible to Fremont. They human capital will move to the facility. They always do.