The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:20 AM

Tesla Motors Inc. said Wednesday that Arizona is among four finalists for a monstrous $4 billion battery factory that would employ 6,500 people.

The company announced Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Nevada were the four states the company is considering for the project, which would supply batteries for half a million cars a year assembled in Fremont, Calif.

No further details of sites being considered were released, but the 10-milion-square-foot factory would need as many as 1,000 acres of land, making it roughly the size of 100 Walmart stores.

The factory would cost $4 billion to $5 billion, with Tesla providing about $2 billion and the rest coming from partners, according to the company.

The company also indicated Tesla hopes to begin permitting and construction by the middle of this year, which would suggest local officials have been in contact with the company.

Officials at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council declined to comment.

Elon Musk, the founder of the high-priced electric-car company, said last week the factory would be powered with renewable energy.

“I think we can also take it a step further with the Gigafactory and have a plant that is heavily powered by renewables, wind and solar, and that has built into it the recycling capability for old battery packs,” Musk said on a conference call with investors.

He indicated on that call that more details would come this week, and Wednesday the company posted a presentation on the factory to its blog.

Tesla’s Model S, which has a base price approaching $60,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit, was named “Motor Trend” magazine’s car of the year for 2013. The higher-end models top $100,000.

Despite the price, buyers are lining up for the cars. Musk told investors last week the company is seeing high interest in its yet-to-be released Model X.

“It’s like if you’re going fishing, it’s like the fish are jumping in the boat,” he said. “We’re not actually trying to sell the Model X at all, but demand seems to be remarkably high. And we’re seeing a steady accumulation of Model X deposits.”