Opinion

San Antonio a great match for Tesla plant

San Antonio is a great match for a Tesla 'Gigafactory.' Texas is one of four states the auto manufacturer is considering for a $5 billion battery plant. San Antonio is a great match for a Tesla 'Gigafactory.' Texas is one of four states the auto manufacturer is considering for a $5 billion battery plant. Photo: Gianluca Colla, Bloomberg Photo: Gianluca Colla, Bloomberg Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Antonio a great match for Tesla plant 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — Landing Tesla Motors “Gigafactory” could be an economic game changer for San Antonio, on par with bringing Toyota here many years ago.

The $5 billion Gigafactory would churn out thousands of high-tech batteries for its electric vehicles and other uses, employing up to 6,500 workers.

Texas is one of four states Tesla is considering for the project. The others are Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. No cities have been named.

Every city has its merits, but San Antonio is a natural fit for the Gigafactory, and we encourage state leaders to promote this city's strengths.

Toyota already operates a truck plant on the South Side and is an investor in Tesla, partnering with it in the design of Toyota's RAV4 SUV.

The proximity to the border creates a regional automotive cluster that other cities in Texas as well as the southwest can't match.

Local economic development officials have deep contacts with Sanyo, a subsidiary of Panasonic, which is Tesla's primary maker of lithium-ion batteries and is considering investing $1 billion in the Gigafactory.

The prospect of Google Fiber Internet service in San Antonio only helps the cause, boosting Web connections to speeds crucial for tech companies and researchers.

Proximity to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's potential commercial space flight project in South Texas

The potential use of Port San Antonio for manufacturing, product development and shipping, all contained within a Foreign Trade Zone.

A city-owned utility in CPS Energy that could possibly be a partner with Tesla in renewable-energy development.

Of course, there is one particular issue with Tesla's interest in Texas as a manufacturing site. State law prohibits automakers from selling their vehicles directly to consumers, something which Musk insists on.

At present, Tesla has two galleries in Houston and Austin where people can view vehicles, but there is no discussion of pricing.

This past legislative session, Musk failed to persuade lawmakers to change the rules to allow direct sales of new vehicles as opposed to going through franchised dealers.

He also brought up the issue in April, telling Automotive News that Tesla would strongly consider Texas for an electric truck plant if it could sell vehicles directly to customers.

“When we do establish a manufacturing plant outside of California, Texas would be a leading candidate for that,” Musk said.

Clearly, this is going to be a significant part of any negotiations between Texas and Tesla, and perhaps it could be remedied through a large enough incentive package.

Regardless of the direct-sales issue, San Antonio is an ideal location for Tesla Motors. The region is primed for a game-changing opportunity such as this.