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Tesla to TX!?

j_cuevas713
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Luminare

Luminare

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1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/05/09/tech/elon-musk-tesla-threatens-california/index.html

 

Sylvester Turner should really jump in and sway Elon to move all of his operations for all of his companies to Houston. Tesla because of our cheap flat land, and close proximity to a major port and as a central location for any kind of distribution. SpaceX because of the conversion of Ellington Field to the new Spaceport, plus the close proximity to NASA. Neurolink because of the close proximity to TMC, and the eventual TMC3.

 

Houston has every opportunity to put itself way ahead coming out of COVID.

 

Now lets be real here. This probably won't happen immediately. This mostly sounds like a threat to twist some political arms, but I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually does move operations. Cali ain't getting any better or any cheaper to operate there.

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MaxConcrete

MaxConcrete

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I'm sure Musk is floating the move idea to coerce California officials to accommodate Telsa's desire to restart production.

 

But Texas could be in the running for future expansion. Based on this WSJ article from March 10, I'm inclined to think that a more Midwest location closer to the auto industry would be more likely, but as the article says,  incentives will also be important and could put Texas on a short list.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-says-incentives-costs-will-influence-site-of-new-u-s-tesla-factory-11583890306?mod=searchresults&page=4&pos=14

 

My interpretation is that Musk is looking for a site not only for production, but also for engineering. So it would need to be a place where they can attract top talent. That seems to suggest at least a medium-sized city, and a city with an ample (preferably non-union) blue collar workforce and also a skilled engineering and software workforce. That would seem to greatly limit the options and may be impossible to achieve. My first thoughts are that Nashville, Austin and maybe someplace in North Carolina would be contenders.

Elon Musk Says Incentives, Costs Will Influence Site of New U.S. Tesla Factory

Updated March 10, 2020 10:19 pm ET

...

Mr. Musk on Tuesday said on Twitter that the Silicon Valley electric-car maker is scouting locations for a new factory in the U.S. to build the company’s coming pickup truck and Model Y compact sport-utility vehicle.

“Incentives play a role, but so do logistics costs, access to a large workforce with a wide range of talents, and quality of life,” he later told The Wall Street Journal in an email.

President Trump in January had suggested Tesla was planning to erect a new factory in the U.S. Mr. Trump, in an interview with CNBC, said he had talked with Mr. Musk and that the auto maker planned to build a “very big plant” in the U.S.

 

Mr. Musk, via Twitter on Tuesday, said the facility would be placed in the central part of the U.S., a region of the country that fuels many pickup sales for competitors Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. He also said, in a second social-media post, that production for the Model Y would serve East Coast customers.

...

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zaphod

zaphod

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I think the most realistic outcome, assuming Musk doesn't continue to behave like an insane person and implode his own company, is that over the very long term they would move out of Fremont. The only reason why they'd want to be in Fremont is access to Silicon Valley venture capital and talent and of course the NUMMI plant they stumbled upon.

 

My bets would be either somewhere like Nashville(Nissan, GM, others are there, and it's a "cool" city that talent would accept moving to) OR maybe Greenville, SC. Which has things like CU-ICAR(automotive tech center run by Clemson University), Proterra(electric bus manufacturer), and a nearby BMW assembly plant.

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X.R.

X.R.

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If I remembered correctly, San Antonio was being considered the for gigafactory. During the process they expressed a preference for the area north of SA airport, I think in part because it would let people enjoy both SA and Austin, it was close to the airport for transportation purposes, and SA had an incredible amount in incentives. They ultimately lost out because, supposedly, transportation costs for the batteries. So @Luminare is right that probably the best thing would be to sell them on some land that is close to port. You already have so many cars and stuff stored on the east side, which is closer to the port, and I think its an easier sell. Also, when driving 59 or 1-10 going east it always feels like there isn't much out there anyway (no offense if your family owns 10+ acres out there, it just seems empty). 

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cspwal

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I wonder if the board will go along with it or not - yes they might save on taxes, but it costs a lot of money to open a new factory, much less moving all operations to a new state.  How many of their employees would follow?  

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MaxConcrete

MaxConcrete

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6 hours ago, cspwal said:

I wonder if the board will go along with it or not - yes they might save on taxes, but it costs a lot of money to open a new factory, much less moving all operations to a new state.  How many of their employees would follow?  

 

Musk's threat to move the Fremont factory is just to get local California officials to take notice of his concerns. As you say, moving that plant is highly unlikely.

 

But the planned new factory for cybertruck and model Y is something that will be placed outside of California (see my previous post if you missed it). The new plant is the prize, if it is able to proceed in the current economic climate.

Edited by MaxConcrete
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j_cuevas713

j_cuevas713

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How did I know Austin was a finalist for all of this? And for some reason Tulsa? I’m so tired of Austin taking every tech company on the market. How the hell did a small city become such a powerhouse for tech companies? Apple, Dell, Etc. Why is Houston never considered? I’m surprised we have HP within “city limits” Imagine if HP expanded their presence downtown? And built a cool campus. 

 

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Tesla-picks-Austin-Tulsa-as-finalists-for-new-US-15273563.php?cmpid=trend

Edited by j_cuevas713
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cspwal

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On 5/15/2020 at 8:13 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

How did I know Austin was a finalist for all of this? And for some reason Tulsa? I’m so tired of Austin taking every tech company on the market. How the hell did a small city become such a powerhouse for tech companies? Apple, Dell, Etc. Why is Houston never considered? I’m surprised we have HP within “city limits” Imagine if HP expanded their presence downtown? And built a cool campus. 

 

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Tesla-picks-Austin-Tulsa-as-finalists-for-new-US-15273563.php?cmpid=trend

 

I think South-by has a big influence on getting Tech companies to consider Austin

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H-Town Man

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On 5/15/2020 at 8:13 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

How did I know Austin was a finalist for all of this? And for some reason Tulsa? I’m so tired of Austin taking every tech company on the market. How the hell did a small city become such a powerhouse for tech companies? Apple, Dell, Etc. Why is Houston never considered? I’m surprised we have HP within “city limits” Imagine if HP expanded their presence downtown? And built a cool campus. 

 

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Tesla-picks-Austin-Tulsa-as-finalists-for-new-US-15273563.php?cmpid=trend

 

Tech companies can be anywhere they want. They are attracted to quality of life, which can in some cases mean big cities like Chicago and New York, both of which have seen their tech sectors grow greatly. But what they like in a big city is a great downtown, and we're still not quite there yet. Austin has more people on its streets downtown on a given day than Houston. The one advantage we should have as a big city we don't have. Thank the tunnels. Thank the encircling freeways. Thank the 150,000 downtown commuters and their insatiable demand for parking, which fills downtown with parking garages and turns the streets into mini-freeways four hours a day.

 

Of course, this is going to Taylor, so has really little to do with actual quality of life, and more with the Austin name and reputation. People I know from out of state who have done some traveling around Texas are starting to realize how overrated Austin is compared to the other Texas cities, but it is a slow process.

 

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j_cuevas713

j_cuevas713

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4 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Tech companies can be anywhere they want. They are attracted to quality of life, which can in some cases mean big cities like Chicago and New York, both of which have seen their tech sectors grow greatly. But what they like in a big city is a great downtown, and we're still not quite there yet. Austin has more people on its streets downtown on a given day than Houston. The one advantage we should have as a big city we don't have. Thank the tunnels. Thank the encircling freeways. Thank the 150,000 downtown commuters and their insatiable demand for parking, which fills downtown with parking garages and turns the streets into mini-freeways four hours a day.

 

Of course, this is going to Taylor, so has really little to do with actual quality of life, and more with the Austin name and reputation. People I know from out of state who have done some traveling around Texas are starting to realize how overrated Austin is compared to the other Texas cities, but it is a slow process.

 

I agree that Austin is overrated. I visited not long ago and walking down South Congress, I realized just how boring it actually was. And the city has only so much to offer in terms of amenities. Not saying Austin doesn't have great things to offer, but it's biggest offering is the outdoors. Our downtown is progressing nicely. I think I mentioned this a while back that during the Summer college kids flood downtown but the thousands. The downtown Austin vibe just feels very outdoors, not as urban. Houston def feels more big city, urban, fast pace.  

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H-Town Man

H-Town Man

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1 minute ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I agree that Austin is overrated. I visited not long ago and walking down South Congress, I realized just how boring it actually was. And the city has only so much to offer in terms of amenities. Not saying Austin doesn't have great things to offer, but it's biggest offering is the outdoors. Our downtown is progressing nicely. I think I mentioned this a while back that during the Summer college kids flood downtown but the thousands. The downtown Austin vibe just feels very outdoors, not as urban. Houston def feels more big city, urban, fast pace.  

 

College kids flood downtown Houston in the summer? Where are they coming from?

 

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j_cuevas713

j_cuevas713

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2 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

College kids flood downtown Houston in the summer? Where are they coming from?

 

I'm assuming most are going to A&M and I'm sure UH. But my buddy and I walked downtown before all of this Covid-19 chaos and it was packed. He even asked me if it normally get's this way. I'd noticed it more and more but I guess him asking sort of made me realize how busy our core is getting with young people. Most of it was in the historic district in that 6 x 6 block radius.

Edited by j_cuevas713
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danielsonr

danielsonr

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3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Tech companies can be anywhere they want. They are attracted to quality of life, which can in some cases mean big cities like Chicago and New York, both of which have seen their tech sectors grow greatly. But what they like in a big city is a great downtown, and we're still not quite there yet. Austin has more people on its streets downtown on a given day than Houston. The one advantage we should have as a big city we don't have. Thank the tunnels. Thank the encircling freeways. Thank the 150,000 downtown commuters and their insatiable demand for parking, which fills downtown with parking garages and turns the streets into mini-freeways four hours a day.

 

Of course, this is going to Taylor, so has really little to do with actual quality of life, and more with the Austin name and reputation. People I know from out of state who have done some traveling around Texas are starting to realize how overrated Austin is compared to the other Texas cities, but it is a slow process.

 

They are also attracted to the synergies associated with a top 10 university computer science program.


https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Advanced_Computing_Center
 

https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/texas/articles/a-brief-history-of-austins-technology-scene/

 

Edited by danielsonr
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