Tesla Gigafactory Investor Thread

[Convert2013]

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

I'm voting Nevada for the same reasons, and like Arizona, plenty of sunshine all year for those solar panels. ;-)

 

[RobStark]

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

Nevada has all the lithium Tesla needs for the first Gigafactory. Western Lithium is opening a new mine this summer. Once fully operational it will be able to supply all of the Gigafatory's lithium needs.

 

[GenIIIBuyer]

Outside Phoenix, Arizona. Final Answer.

edit: This is as exciting as guessing where TSLA will close in given week.

 

[bonnie]

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.

My point, of course, is that other areas have a tech population.

 

[Convert2013]

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.

Everyone wants Tesla to come to their town But cost of labor is much cheaper in the middle of nowhere than in an established city. Take Boeing for example. They moved manufacturing to Charleston, South Carolina a few years back for cheaper labor to produce a chunk of the 787 airplanes. They do have engineers in Charleston however not from the core set in design, development, and R&D (yet). Only enough to support manufacturing and production. So yes I expect some engineers to be located at the Tesla manufacturing and production site but the majority of workers will be technicians, assemblers, machine shop guys, quality inspectors, etc, with some engineering change and manufacturing engineering support.

 

[FluxCap]

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..

I know, right? I actually did buy and sell some gold back in 2010-11 for a profit, mostly took advantage of the "goldbug" fever over there. Poor guys. They need a big hug.

 

[Doug_G]

Everyone wants Tesla to come to their town But cost of labor is much cheaper in the middle of nowhere than in an established city.

If you need experienced technicians and engineers they can be hard to come by in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Joel]

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...)

Bonnie - I'll bet you it's Nevada. Also, who says it's going to be a few day's drive? Looks like Tesla plans on using rail to transport the battery packs back and forth. Finally, since we are all speculating, how cool would it be if Tesla built a hyperloop from Fremont to Nevada?

 

[bonnie]

Bonnie - I'll bet you it's Nevada. Also, who says it's going to be a few day's drive? Looks like Tesla plans on using rail to transport the battery packs back and forth. Finally, since we are all speculating, how cool would it be if Tesla built a hyperloop from Fremont to Nevada?

You're on. What's the bet?

 

[RABaby]

You're on. What's the bet?

Pink slips

 

[bonnie]

Pink slips

Trouble maker.

 

[airj1012]

If you need experienced technicians and engineers they can be hard to come by in the middle of nowhere.

These type of opportunities attract top talent. This types of factories have to be built in the middle of no where. Otherwise the land will be too expensive. As an example look at Google's/Apple's data centers. Notice that they are not in major cities for the same reasons. They've been able to attract top level talent outside of major cities because its such a great job. The same applies for Tesla.

Google - http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/index.html
Apple - https://www.apple.com/environment/renewable-energy/

 

[RABaby]

Trouble maker.

Since very young

 

[Robert.Boston]

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.

I love Austin. Favorite sign seen on the sidewalk in front of a place there:

Coffee
Bacon
Whisky
(repeat as needed)

 

[Monsoon]

Maybe they'll build a very long, very thin factory that's in all 4 candidate states and get money from all of them.

+1. LOL.

 

[Joel]

You're on. What's the bet?

Lunch, dinner, or a drink. You pick:smile: We'll have to settle up at Teslive or TMC Connect whichever name it goes by these days (I'm assuming you're going).

 

[JRP3]

I'm thinking either AZ or NV, with NV as a slight favorite. I'm with those that would not want TX to get it. No need to bribe them when time will eventually force them to change their protectionist ways.

 

[kenliles]

The 30% reduction is battery cost appears to be assigned to the factory and scale efficiencies. I'm wondering if (for GENIII) chemistry and current on going improvements that were know to provide 10%+ per year are on top of is! yielding a possible 50% reduction.
Thoughts?

 

[ckessel]

These type of opportunities attract top talent. This types of factories have to be built in the middle of no where.

That happens to be the exact opposite of Tesla's strategy so far, which has been to locate in the heart of the talent even when all the "experts" said you couldn't be profitable in such an expensive location like LA or the San Francisco bay area.

 

[bonnie]

To be fair, they got a killer deal on the Fremont plant. That's why they are there.