Electric Car Wars: China vs. America, L.A. vs. Downey
Written by Chuck Squatriglia, Wired.com
Tuesday, 04 May 2010 06:07
While Los Angeles has lured China's BYD to set up its American headquarters for importing and distributing its electric cars, Downey is close to a deal to get U.S. electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors to set up its factory in the area south of Los Angeles.
Subsidies and promises to buy fleets of electric cars for the DWP and possibly other city agencies helped L.A. win the BYD competition to help the Chiinese battery giant launch its U.S. effort to make inroads into the municipal car market. BYD may eventually set up an assembly plant, not a full factory, in the Antelope Valley.
Here's the story from Wired.com about Tesla's plans:
Tesla Motors is considering land near Los Angeles for its Model S factory, but the timeline for renovating the site and building cars leaves little room for error if Tesla is to deliver cars in 2012 as promised.
The Silicon Valley automaker has kept quiet about its factory plans, but signs point toward a former NASA assembly facility in Downey, California. The city reportedly has offered incentives worth $8.7 million over 15 years, and Tesla reportedly is obtaining permits for the project.
Now the Downey Patriot has dug into a draft environmental report Tesla submitted to the Department of Energy with the application that resulted in a $465 million federal loan. The newspaper says Tesla has been negotiating a lease with Industrial Realty Group, which owns about 57 acres of the 77-acre property (the city owns the rest). Tesla wants 51 acres and an 11-year lease with an option for another five, according to the Patriot.
Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes said the company has not selected a location and is considering others, including Long Beach, California.
“We’re very close to making a decision,” he said. “We’ll have a decision within a few weeks.”
Telsa has no time to lose if it is to begin putting cars in driveways by mid-2012.
ccording to documents the Patriot reviewed, Tesla says it will build the Model S sedan in the site’s three largest buildings. The largest will house body production, assembly and painting operations. Powertrain assembly would be done in another building, and aluminum body panels will be stamped and formed in still another. Completed vehicles would be stored at the north end of the site.
Tesla has plans for a “small, lighted low-speed test track” that would be used to check finished cars for noise, vibrations and other issues.
According to the Patriot’s reading of the documents, “converting the property to suit Tesla’s needs would take 18 months, with construction occurring in two 10-hour shifts five days a week, with weekend shifts added ‘during peak periods.’” Not quite, Reyes told us. Twenty-hour days are a worst-case scenario and the timeline includes preparing the buildings, installing the tooling and firing up the assembly line.
“That’s 18 months total,” he said. “I’m not denying it’s aggressive. But it’s within our plans. We still think it’s doable.”
Setting up a dealership/distributor AND locking into a sole source purchase agreement doesn't sound too smart especially with a budget shortfall.
Bringing manufacturing jobs for a US/California-owned company sounds a lot better.
And this isn't the first time that a dumb business decision was made by the Mayor - just look at the millions spent to "attract" a company from Southgate as reported in OurLA.
This Mayor (with help from the City Council) has done permanent damage to a once great City.
While Los Angeles has lured China's BYD to set up its American headquarters for importing and distributing its electric cars, Downey is close to a deal to get U.S. electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors to set up its factory in the area south of Los Angeles.
