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More speculation about Tesla Gigafactory announcement

Should we all be laying our chips down on Nevada for Tesla's proposed Gigafactory? At least a few news sources are saying yes, though another says there's a remote chance of a San Francisco Bay Area site getting the nod. Real remote. The frontrunner appears to be the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, which is about 20 miles east of Reno proper and includes warehousing sites for Walmart, Dell and Petsmart, Transport Evolved says. Compared to other states in the running, Nevada has the advantages of lower taxes, lots of cheap real estate and some lithium-mining capabilities, while the specific site has very good highway and rail access. There's also already a li-ion company there, Dragonfly Energy. Feeding that belief is the sight of about 50 earthmoving trucks recently spotted at that site, says ValueWalk, Greentech Media and Jalopnik, in addition to Transport Evolved. But then we heard that the site had been shut down. Nobody involved is giving any clues, but the site is plenty big enough for a $5 billion, 10-million-square-foot plant that would support about 6,500 jobs. Meanwhile, Tesla may also be considering the former Concord Naval Weapons Station about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco and 45 miles north of Tesla's Fremont headquarters, says KTVU, the NBC affiliate for the San Francisco Bay Area. The problem is that's a Superfund site in need of some remediation. But that sort of cleaning project could be a good fit for a company focused on "clean" energy. Tesla is, of course, declining to comment. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said early last month that it was in "quite advanced" stages of planning for the plant, or perhaps two plants, and that the company was meeting on a daily basis with partner and battery-supplier Panasonic. The company is expected to officially announce the location of the Gigafactory later this year, and it could be up and running by the end of 2016.

Tesla loses $50 million in Q1, Model X could be delayed until 2015

Maybe it's just because of our interest in the green automotive sector, but to us, Tesla Motors has got to be the most interesting and exciting company in the US to watch. We get giddy, for instance, over the release of stuff like shareholder letters and financial results, whereas when other companies announce these things, we yawn. Our feelings about today's publication of the California automaker's 2014 first quarter financial results, with accompanying letter and call with financial analysts, is no different. They contained, after all, tons of small news nuggets that help us put together a better picture of how it will move towards its overarching goal of changing the gasoline-powered paradigm. The important numbers released today are $50 million and 7,535. The first is how much the company lost (on a GAAP basis) – using the non-GAAP method that Tesla prefers, it actually saw $17 million in net income – while the second is the number of cars it produced in the first three months of this fiscal year. Though the reported earnings per share of $0.12 exceeded the expectations of many analysts, it was less than some of the more rosier forecasts, and so the stock (TSLA) is taking a beating in the after hours market and has tumbled down 14.5 percent to $186.85 as of this writing. Musk gave instructions to the China team that they "spend money as fast as they can without wasting it." Stock price aside, there is a lot to be happy about. Contrary to some recent reports, Tesla is continuing to see a rise in domestic demand – up 10 percent in the quarter – along with "significant sequential increase in worldwide net orders for Model S." China, the market that could easily become the company's biggest, is also the source of glad tidings with CEO Elon Musk saying he is "blown away" by the level of enthusiasm there. Since getting government approvals, the necessary building out of the Supercharger and Service Center infrastructure needed to support owners is going full speed ahead and Musk gave instructions to the China team that they "spend money as fast as they can without wasting it." Already there is a four-to-five month wait for cars in the country's mid-sized cities, where the work needs to happen, and that has led to some customer frustration.

Elon Musk: Tesla Gigafactory location announcement coming late 2014

Tesla's Gigafactory is going to be a huge deal. So huge, in fact, that Tesla's not going to announce where it will be located until later this year. You may remember that, just a month ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that, "The No. 1 thing is we want to minimize the risk timing for the Gigafactory to get up and running." Well, apparently getting the timing right doesn't mean rushing to get things done before they're ready. 30 percent cost decrease is "probably conservative at this point" – Elon Musk The reason Tesla needs the Gigafactory, as you may remember, is to supply packs for the company's Gen 3 car, the EV that is supposed to cost $35,000 and be able to go over 200 miles on a charge. To get down to that price point, the batteries need to be cheaper, and Musk has said that the Gigafactory should reduce the per-kWh cost of a pack by "more than 30 percent." Speaking at the annual shareholder conference this week, Musk confirmed that planning for the battery plant is "quite advanced" and that Tesla is meeting daily with Panasonic, the other partner in the deal. Panasonic was originally unsure that those kinds of cost reductions could be achieved, Musk said, "but I think they are now convinced they can." In fact, he said 30 percent is "probably conservative at this point." The Gigafactory should be up and running by the "late 2016 timeframe," Musk said, right around the time the Gen 3 car will be ready for volume production. While there will still only be one Tesla Gigafactory to begin with, Musk said that Tesla might start the process in two or three states (as opposed to just one or two, as hinted earlier). "We're probably going to do two or maybe three states all the way to creating a foundation and completing the plans and getting approvals and everything," he said. Sounds like someone wants to be ready to build gigafactories #2 and #3 in a hurry if need be. We've got more from the meeting, including videos of Musk's talk, here and here. You can read Tesla's original Gigafactory proposal here (PDF).