California In the Running For Tesla Gigafactory 172
An anonymous reader writes Thanks to some clean-energy tax incentives approved late this spring, California appears to be in the running again for Tesla's "Gigafactory". From the article: "The decision should have been made by now, and ground broken, according to the company's timeline, but is on hold, allowing California, which was not in the race initially — CEO Elon Musk has called California an improbable choice, citing regulations — to throw its hat in the ring. 'In terms of viability, California has progressed. Now it's a four-plus-one race,' said Simon Sproule, Tesla's vice president of global communication and marketing, referring to the four named finalists — Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada — for the prize. That's heartening. Having the Gigafactory would be a vindication of Gov. Jerry Brown's drive to make California the home of advanced manufacturing, of which Tesla's battery technology is a prime example. With its technology, 'Tesla may be in position to disrupt industries well beyond the realm of traditional auto manufacturing. It's not just cars,' a Morgan Stanley analyst told Quartz, an online business publication last year.
Re:What are the other 99% supposed to do? (Score:4, Interesting)
The plans for this factory have it automated to hell, employing a skeleton crew of human beings.
The plans include 6,500 employees.
https://www.greentechmedia.com... [greentechmedia.com]
Re:The walken-comma (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Texas? (Score:5, Interesting)
It makes perfect (business) sense to locate it in a state with depressed wages, huge amounts of available land, little-to-no zoning restrictions, lax environmental regulations, and politicians that are at least a buy-able as the rest. Hell, if it's good enough for the oil and gas industry...
Really? You really want to go there? True that huge chunks of employment in Texas is in the Walmart-like category for people with no specialized skills. But for manufacturing and up, wages are decent and the economy is booming. Go to Austin, Dallas or Houston for good paying jobs without the ridiculous hassles that you see in the Bay area: ageism, gentrification, and most important of all, absurd zoning laws that prevent creation of new housing/rental units to accommodate the growing population (and which causes housing/rental prices to be absurd to anyone except couples where both partners are in IT/STEM/Software.). The same is true in Seattle, Portland ,The Triangle and Denver (in particular Denver.) Texas is doing fine, more than fine. Just because there are a bunch of backwater NIMBY small towns full of folks who thing America's best years were 30-40 years ago, that doesn't mean the state is crap. People are moving there in droves for a reason, small businesses are booming, people in manufacturing are doing well. And most importantly, whether you work in STEM or in a factory plan, you can still afford an actual house that is not a hole in the wall (Sillycon Valleeey, I'm looking at you.)
Texas is doing well, and will be doing well for a long time. It is fair to criticize, but try to give some credit where credit is due every once in a while instead of blindly following the bash-your-favorite-dead-horse crowd.