Tesla Motors Deal For Nevada Gigafactory Land Concluded

Batteries

Published on October 29th, 2014 | by James Ayre

October 29th, 2014 by James Ayre 

Though Tesla Motors had already begun construction at the 980-acre site east of Reno where the Gigafactory is being built, the land didn’t actually belong to the company until a few days ago, when the deal for the land was finally concluded.

As per the arrangement between Tesla and the state of Nevada, the EV overlord is actually getting the land for free â€" as part of the $1.3-billion package of economic-development incentives that lured Tesla to the state rather than to one of the other contending states.

As it stands, the Gigafactory is currently set to be completed by 2020 â€" and will produce somewhere around 500,000 lithium-ion battery packs a year (cutting battery costs by more than 30%) once up and running. Most (if not all) of the battery packs produced will be shipped to the nearby Tesla auto-assembly plant in Fremont, California, for use in the company’s hotter than hot electric vehicle lineup.

While the Gigafactory won’t be complete until 2020, production at the facility is expected to begin in 2017, with peak production then being achieved at completion in 2020. Altogether, the plant is expected to cost $5 billion to develop.

The closure of the deal was confirmed by Lance Gilman, a principal and partner with the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, in an interview with Fortune â€" the papers were apparently filed in the Storey County courthouse.

 

Here are some moredetails:

Legally, the giant industrial park, which Gilman manages, is giving the 980-acre gigafactory parcel to Tesla. But as part of the deal, the state of Nevada is paying the park’s owners $43 million for right-of-way to extend a four-lane road through the complex to US Highway 50, a major interstate. Gilman has sought the extension, which will cut travel times to and from the industrial park and open up thousands of acres for development, for more than 15 years. “That’s our reward,” Gilman told Fortune. “It’s going to happen. It’s because of Tesla that we’re willing to work this particular transaction.”

The state will also pay for construction of the road, called USA Parkway, at an estimated cost of $70 million. The extension is scheduled for completion by December 2017. In addition, Tesla has options to purchase another 9,000 adjacent acres, including 7,000 acres for a wind-farm with the potential to produce about 140 MW of electricity, according to Gilman.

According to Musk, Tesla plans to supply all the power needed for the facility itself through exploitation of renewable resources, such as geothermal energy, solar energy, and wind energy. The aim is, according to the Tesla CEO, for the battery plant to be a “net zero-energy factory.”

Presumably, SolarCity will play a part in powering the facility in some regard â€" especially considering the company’s recent move into solar panel manufacturing.

Image Credit: Tesla Motors

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: Elon Musk, gigafactory, Lance Gilman, Nevada

About the Author

James Ayre 's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.