Tesla Electric Car Factory Planned for Silicon Valley

Tesla Motors will be building a brand spankin’ new car factory in San Jose, California, but it won’t be any old car factory. The 0 million facility will churn out electric vehicles expected to be on the streets by 2010. Silicon Valley has long been renowned as the epicenter of high-tech innovation in America, and now it looks like it’ll be an important setting for clean, green tech as well.

From Reuters:

Tesla Chief Executive Ze’ev Drori in a separate interview said he expects manufacturing of the five-passenger, ,000 Model S sedan to hit a rate of over 15,000 a year by the last quarter of 2011. Tesla will build the factory on its own.

“We have enough money,” Drori said, adding that Tesla is a couple of months away from closing up to 0 million in private equity financing, and that the U.S. Department of Energy has approved 0 million in loan guarantees. The state of California also has offered significant tax breaks.

Speculation on where the factory would be located has been buzzing for months, with Californians eagerly awaiting the news that would bring hundreds of green jobs to one lucky town. Other cities on the short list were San Francisco and Vacaville. San Jose looks set to become a boomtown for green technology, as solar companies continue to set up factories there.

Can’t wait to see the undoubtedly sporty, sexy electric cars Tesla rolls out over the next couple of years!

Link [Reuters] + [Earth2Tech]
Photo credit: Steve Puma

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