Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this year he was on the hunt for a new location in the central US to be the site of the future Cybertruck Gigafactory. Since then we’ve seen some interesting options put on the table to try and entice the billionaire to set up shop in their states.
Missouri dangled a pretty big carrot by offering Musk and Tesla up to $1 billion in incentives to have the gigafactory built there. We’ve also seen a very creative attempt to get Musk’s attention by a group behind the “Big Fucking Field”, using his favourite thing – memes.
The latest to join the fray is the state of Kansas is The Greater Wichita Partnership and the Kansas Department of Commerce hoping to lure Tesla with their offer of an 800-acre site with convenient access to railways and a skilled workforce.
The group created a website cybertruckdreamsite.com and a video to help sell Musk on the idea. Muck like Missouri’s bid, the Wichita website has a long list of incentives that they’re willing to offer up to get the huge investment and long term economic benefits that comes with the construction of a Gigafactory.
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Land: Sites within the Greater Wichita region are priced 15-20% below U.S. industrial land prices and may provide steep discounts to even “free” depending on job creation
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Cash: Multiple state-level programs can provide upfront cash or cash-equivalent benefits to this project, including Promoting Employment Across Kansas (PEAK) and the Job Creation Fund
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Training funds: An abundance of customized training options exist in the Greater Wichita region with state reimbursable training grants, training tax credits and local funds to relocate and train technical talent
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Utility savings: Our private sector utility partners Evergy and Kansas Gas Services each have economic development rider programs that significantly reduce the costs of upfront utility infrastructure and long-term rates depending on job creation and other criteria
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Federal incentives: Sites within the Greater Wichita region qualify for New Market Tax Credits as well as Opportunity Zones that could provide substantial tax benefits
These are just the bids that have been made public so far, there are undoubtedly others that have taken place behind the scenes. Tesla will likely have to make a decision soon the future location if they hope to deliver on their target of late 2021 deliveries of the tri motor Cybertruck.
h/t [Kansas.com]
