Tesla, the successful and growing American electric car company, has tapped Reno, Nevada as the site of its massive $5 billion gigafactory where it will make batteries for its vehicles.
To woo Tesla, Nevada offered $1.25 billion in tax incentives over the next 20 years. The state’s lawmakers are meeting in a special session today over whether to approve the deal that, according to a report from the Reno Gazette-Journal, “will allow Tesla to operate in Nevada essentially tax free for 10 years.”
But Gov. Brian Sandoval sees the deal as a no-brainer investment, saying that the gigafactory will have an impact of more than $100 billion over the next two decades.
For starters, building the factory will create 3,000 construction jobs. And once the factory is complete it will employ 6,500 full-time workers that will be paid an average of $25 an hour with benefits, according to the Gazette-Journal report.
Tesla says the gigafactory will enable it to massively up production. In 2014 the company will manufacture 35,000 vehicles. By 2020 it expects that number to be 500,000.
