Tesla has said it needs to make a decision on battery factory location this year in order for it to be completed on time. The Texas legislature doesn't meet again until January 2015, so Tesla wasn't going to be able to use the lure of the gigafactory to encourage Texas legislators to do the right thing and vote in the peoples' interest instead of with the auto dealer cartel. But now it can! Tesla Plans at Least Two Battery Sites as Musk Emphasizes Speed - Bloomberg This is genius-- by picking two sites and starting work on them up to groundbreaking, the final choice of locations will still be in play while the Texas legislature is meeting in early 2015. Say they start work on permitting and engineering on Texas and Nevada sites. If the Texas legislature votes to remove restrictions on who can sell new cars, Tesla will continue developing the Texas site. If not, the Texas site plans get mothballed and work proceeds in Nevada.
Isn't anyone concerned about the money that'll be wasted by developing two locations and then mothballing one of them? Seems a bit extravagant. (TSLA holder)
The cost must be preferable to taking the risk that the GF is delayed. And maybe they'll use the other site as the 2nd GF.
My predictions are that 1) a second GF will be under construction for months, when the first one starts production in 2017, and 2) after 2019, Tesla will double its cell/battery pack production capacity every 2 years.
Not really: 1) Sometimes two small is more efficient than one big. 2) Two plants mean redundancy. I recall when you couldn't get DEC processors due to a plant shutdown. It's one reason why DEC is no longer around. Even a mothballed plant would only take a couple of weeks to get going.
The article doesn't say they're going to build two factories and mothball one. The plan is to develop two sites up to the point of actually building the factory.
If I understand the plan, they are backing two sites to try to avoid getting caught in a regulatory swamp in a sole-site selection.
That's the plan as Elon described it in the article. But it has the added advantage of putting off the factory construction at either site until the Texas legislature is in session. That will give the legislators more incentive to do the right thing (and an excuse to give their auto dealer contributors when they vote against the cartel). I hope that was one reason for the plan but they're smart enough not to say that out loud.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry stalks Tesla in SacramentoLos Angeles Times Somebody remind Perry of the Tesla ban as he goes around waiving the competition is good flag.
Just option the ground and start the permit stage. Then tell the state their options. Fall in line or forget it.