California lawmakers remained undecided as of the end of last week on whether to launch initiatives to help Tesla in the opening of a battery plant valued at $5 billion.
A report from the Los Angeles Times Sunday said that the latest legislative session ended without any agreement as to what incentives will be included in a proposed package for the electric vehicle manufacturer. Aside from Tesla’s home state of California, other states being mulled for the battery plant include Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas, and according to Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk, the winning state may help to the tune of about 10 percent of the plant’s value, or approximately $500 million worth of incentives.
In a statement given prior to the adjournment of Friday’s legislative session, Mike Rossi, senior adviser to California Governor Jerry Brown, said that lawmakers are still engaged in “productive conversations with Tesla”, and that they are still confident that an agreement on the incentives can be reached, with the goal of creating more jobs in the state still on their minds.
When asked about negotiations with other states and their legislative boards, Tesla refused to provide any comment apart from a succinct “The process is still ongoing” from spokesman Simon Sproule. Tesla would need the battery factory to be operational by 2017, so that it could provide lithium-ion batteries for the Model S and other vehicles at a lower cost.