Tesla gigafactory will create 3,000 construction jobs in Nevada

Updated Sep 11, 2014

Tesla gigafactory

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.