California Tesla Sedan Factory: Where?

[dpeilow]

Looks like the fat lady is yet to sing:

Film studio, car company both options for Boeing factory

Last Wednesday, the Long Beach branch of the Sierra Club urged Mayor Bob Foster and the City Council to continue wooing Tesla in locating to a new plant on a former Boeing site. Club members argued that the manufacturer’s green culture serves the city better, as opposed to a struggling movie industry.

 

[vfx]

No factory news yet but tax free is nice:

******************************************
Subject: Treasurer Lockyer Announces Agreement with Tesla Motors That
Will Expand Electric Car Manufacturing in California

Good afternoon,

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer today announced an agreement with Tesla
Motors that paves the way for the company to use tax incentives to help
it expand production of its electric cars in the state and create 1,400
jobs.

"By helping Tesla stay and expand in California, this agreement will
create valuable jobs for our battered economy," said Lockyer. "And it
will bring the added bonus of benefiting our environment. ZEVs are
efficient and clean, and a critical weapon in our fight against climate
change."

The agreement was reached between Tesla and the California Alternative
Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA),
chaired by Lockyer.

Existing law exempts CAEATFA from paying the sales tax on equipment used
to manufacturer advanced transportation products. Under a policy
adopted in June of 2008, CAEATFA can pass through that tax break to
qualifying ZEV manufacturers.

Under the terms of the agreement, CAEATFA will assume title of $320
million worth of manufacturing equipment purchased by Tesla directly
from vendors. CAEATFA will not pay the sales tax on the transaction.
When the transactions are completed, CAEATFA will transfer title of the
equipment to Tesla. The end result of the arrangement: Tesla will not
have to pay the sales tax, saving the company slightly more than nine
percent of the $320 million total cost of equipment purchases.

The equipment purchases will be used for three purposes. First and
primarily, Tesla will use $238 million to establish a production
facility for its Model S sedan. No location has yet been determined but
potential locations include Long Beach and Downey, CA. Tesla will also
spend $59 million to upgrade its Palo Alto powertrain production
facility and $5 million to expand current Roadster assembly at its Menlo
Park facility. They will use $18 million on other unbudgeted equipment
purchases.

See attached press release for more information. Call with any
questions.

Joe

Joe DeAnda
Press Secretary
State Treasurer Bill Lockyer
915 Capitol Mall, Room 110
Sacramento, CA. 95814
916-653-2995

 

[dpeilow]

Various stories like this:Tesla To Build Model S Sedan Plant In california - MotorAuthority

Isn't this just a rehash of old news?

 

[vfx]

Isn't this just a rehash of old news?

I suppose it is. Maybe this is more of an official confirmation.



Not sure what thread it counts as.

 

[Norbert]

Various stories like this:Tesla To Build Model S Sedan Plant In california - MotorAuthority

Isn't this just a rehash of old news?

Sorry if I'm going off-topic here, but the referenced article claims:

In some configurations the sedan will also be capable of a 300 to 600-mile range.

Usually I would think this is probably an error, but since the article seems well-informed and up-to-date otherwise, I'm wondering whether this might be good news.

 

[Norbert]

Rival expresses doubts about Fisker | Delawareonline.com | The News Journal

Musk said Tesla has signed a letter of intent to buy a plant in Southern California.

 

[ChrisC]

Rival expresses doubts about Fisker | Delawareonline.com | The News Journal

Getting to the second page of that article requires that you have cookies enabled. Bad website, bad! (shakes finger)

So, I've been out of the loop here for 6 weeks, and just spent 2 hours catching up on all of the threads here at TMC. Is there really still no announced decision yet on this plant?!

 

[Cobos]

Getting to the second page of that article requires that you have cookies enabled. Bad website, bad! (shakes finger)

So, I've been out of the loop here for 6 weeks, and just spent 2 hours catching up on all of the threads here at TMC. Is there really still no announced decision yet on this plant?!

I'm also a bit curious on this as I'd like to know how much time they need to finish their factory before they can start producing for real.

Considering they've not started creating the assembly line not to mention optimizing the assembly line, nor have they created a single proper EP or VP how realistic is late 2011 at this point? To me it sounds awfully tight with just 2 years until the first customer should drive away with their car?

Anyone care to speculate a bit?

Cobos

 

[doug]

Well about time!

Tesla picks Downey for the Model S plant.

The Downey Patriot

A deal that would have Tesla Motors open a vehicle production plant in the City of Downey is "99.9 percent" done, Mayor Mario Guerra said today.

The City Council is expected to call a special meeting as early as tomorrow night to vote on a memorandum of understanding with Industrial Realty Group (IRG), Guerra said.

If the agreement is approved, Tesla Motors will open the production plant on an 80-acre plot of land at Lakewood Boulevard and Columbia Way, where Downey Studios currently sits.
...

TESLA CHOOSES DOWNEY OVER LONG BEACH TO MAKE ELECTRIC CARS » The Long Beach District Weekly » Your Source for Long Beach News

Tesla Motors has selected the City of Downey over the City of Long Beach as the manufacturing site for its new Model S, a four-door all-electric family sedan, The District Weekly learned early this afternoon—apparently, we discovered about 5 p.m., at about the same time as The Downey Patriot was learning the same thing.

“We’re very close to being able to make an official announcement,” Downey Mayor Mario Guerra confirmed during a brief telephone interview this afternoon. “I’m about to call a special meeting of the city council, and we’ll likely have an official announcement next week. Cars ought to be rolling off the line in 2011.”

Telephone and e-mail requests for comment were left this morning at Tesla Motors headquarters in San Carlos, CA. So far, no response.
...

 

[vfx]

Hope they cleaned up all those toxins.

 

[efusco]

Just glad they made a decision and can move forward.

 

[doug]

Some local politics:

Long Beach Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske's Blog: LB residents need "Autposy" About Why TESLA Deal Died and Went to Downey

The taxpayers of Long Beach deserve a full explanation about who or what killed the deal to bring Tesla to Long Beach. How did we lose this revenue producing opportunity to Downey? Long Beach has so much more to offer to a business than most southern California locations -- we have manufacturing space at the Boeing site, nearness to freeways, an airport, a port, railroad, convention center, training programs at our local community college and most importantly a workforce ready and willing to work. We also have an enterprise zone that provides tax credits for employers. And just recently the City announced it won the 'Most Business Friendly City Award' in Los Angeles County.

So what went wrong?

Anyone who has worked in corporate America knows how important it is to develop positive relationships in order to do business, which is exactly what the City of Downey did and the City of Long Beach did not do.
...

The Long Beach Post has been covering the story for a while and gives some analysis.
LBPOST.com: What If Tesla Decides To Build Their New Car In Downey?

The City of Downey actually owns about one-third of the NASA site that Tesla was considering, and therefore city officials could be directly involved in the negotiations. Long Beach does not own the Boeing site; Boeing does, and was the sole negotiator across the table from Tesla.
...
that NASA site in Downey is worth a mighty sum, probably somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Even with a long-term lease, that’s a tough financial hurdle to clear. Of course, Tesla doesn’t have any choice but to acquire a facility like that, because they’ve promised to begin building the Model S in 2011.

 

[dpeilow]

The Associated Press: Downey, Calif., council approves Tesla car factory

DOWNEY, Calif. — The City Council in Downey, Calif., has approved an agreement aimed at bringing an electric car assembly plant to the Los Angeles suburb.

The council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve an agreement with the owner of the Downey Studios lot to broker a lease deal with Tesla Motors.

 

[AnOutsider]

yay! now get to converting so we can get to building. I've had 3 buddies who were interested in the Model S but got put off by the far off date noting that with other more established names putting out EVs in the same timeframe or less, they might as well go elsewhere.

 

[dpeilow]

Good article: LA suburb's rebirth rides on electric car plant

 

[doug]

Tesla Gets Free Rent for Model S Plant? | Miss Electric

However, it seems that there has been some controversy over whether Tesla should have chosen Long Beach over Downey. Long Beach is believed to be a better location for the plant, given its proximity to freeways, an airport, a port, a railroad, a major convention center (where Plug-In 2009 was held), and its electric vehicle technician training programs at the local community college.

Downey, however, is out to make Tesla an offer it can’t refuse. City government officials have offered Tesla free rent of the 57-acre retired NASA plant (a deal worth several millions), as well as building improvements and other related incentives.

 

[dpeilow]

Long Beach still in running for Tesla plant - Press-Telegram

LBPOST.com: Long Beach Looks To Lure Tesla Motors With Incentives


So are we getting an announcement at the LA show then? *cough*

 

[Kipernicus]

is 2012 production realistic?

So they are close, but haven't finalized, the location of the plant. Assuming they finalize pretty soon, they still need to clean up the site, retrofit the infrastructure, install production equipment, finalize engineering plans of the car to optimize production, hire and train workers to do the production, secure parts and materials suppliers, put quality control into place, etc, etc, etc

I don't think I'll take delivery (P1440) until 2013 at least.
Are the rest of you more optimistic?

 

[AnOutsider]

Are the rest of you more optimistic?

When put like that, no :frown:

 

[doug]

Looks like Tesla is still trying to hold out for Long Beach.
As for the production schedule, it seemed really ambitious to begin with, so I'd guess a slip is likely.