It will be interesting to see what develops.

Yes, the site looks to be a stanky, soggy mess.

Parts would corrode on the shelves!

Second, Road access is terrible. There is no water access, no rail access (rail does go to the mall, which used to be a Ford Plant about two miles away) and I-880 is one of the most congested in the country. No suppliers around, which means everything must be trucked in through a two lane onramp onto 237 from 880. Did I mention it gets backed up from 7am to 9am and 4:30 to 7pm?

By comparison, look at the satellite of the NUMMI plant making Vibe/Matrix in Fremont ten miles north. Plenty of land, road, rail, and easy port access (through port of Oakland) and is close to multiple interstates-if one gets closed, route around it.

Tesla:

NUMMI

Looking at the number of levees surrounding the area, I think it is actually underwater.

ATVMP or “136 loans” were passed with the purpose of “reequipping, expanding, or establishing a manufacturing facility.” According to the interim rules, a new facility would qualify. However, there are also rules in place requiring that the project be “financially viable” without the loans. I don’t see how Tesla’s plans fit into that category.

On the other hand, now that the money has been appropriated, who knows how it will actually be disbursed. I can’t imagine there are many “financially viable” retooling plans right now, given the state of the industry. You tell me…

“In today’s interim final rule, the
Department interprets the term
‘financially viable’ to mean that an
applicant must demonstrate a
reasonable prospect that the Applicant
will be able to make payments of
principal and interest on the loan as and
when such payments become due under
the terms of the loan documents, and
that the applicant has a net present
value which is positive, taking all costs,
existing and future, into account.”

Also remember that 136 funds were nearly spent on Bailout round 1 by McCotter and others. So really, they’re not so much rules as guidelines.

As Top Gear proves, runways and vast aprons of concrete provide endless opportunities for automotive research. Local governments eagerly seek tenants for these properties, too, which translates into incentives galore.

First, Tesla never said before that it was trying to raise $100 million from venture firms to fund its San Jose facility. Now it had planned for that all along, and had tried, but failed? I think that is hogwash.

[Update -- my mistake. Looking back, Tesla did say last September that it planned to use $100 million from a funding round led by Goldman Sachs and $150 million in government loans to build the facility.]

Second, Tesla’s proposed “greenfield” Zanker Road site in San Jose does qualify for the government loans. But Tesla thinks that the government will favor “brownfield” sites. So Tesla quickly abandons the plan it had been pushing for months and looks for a new brownfield site.

Tesla gets Albuquerque and New Mexico’s governor to woo it, and then runs away leaving the bride at the altar. Tesla talks San Jose and California’s governor into bed with it, and then does the same thing to them. Shame on you, Tesla.

God, Pepsi up the nose hurts.