San Jose: Our New Home in the Heart of Silicon Valley
(http://www.teslamotors.com/display_data.php?data_name=bai_drori)
by Ze'ev Drori
President and CEO
published Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
I’m happy to announce a major milestone in the history of Tesla Motors – the construction of a state-of-the-art assembly plant and consolidated corporate campus in the heart of Silicon Valley.
For those of you who know the area, Tesla’s new home will be just off Zanker Road and Highway 237 in North San Jose. The $250 million facility will be home to a Model S assembly plant, corporate headquarters and a cutting-edge R&D campus.
We selected San Jose in part because the region already enjoys a high concentration of highly skilled engineers and support infrastructure – people who already work for Tesla and those we might want to hire. The factory – expected to achieve gold certification from U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) – will be 20 miles from the current headquarters in San Carlos.
Construction on the 89-acre site is expected to begin in the summer of 2009. When fully operational, the facility will employ approximately 1,000 workers.
The plant will produce the Model S, Tesla’s zero-emission, five-passenger luxury sedan powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. It is expected to have a base price of about $60,000 and get about 240 miles per charge with exceptional performance. The first sedans will likely roll off the assembly line in late 2010. Tesla will be able to produce at least 15,000 sedans per year – up to 30,000 if we add a shift.
The new corporate campus is tremendous news for Tesla, and it’s just the latest in a string of positive announcements – a refreshing change of pace from the gloom and doom of Wall Street in recent weeks. Our success is proof that clean tech can really drive job creation in the 21st century, leading to dramatic improvements in the economy *and* the environment.
Last week, we announced that we ramped up production in Hethel and had about 1,200 customers waiting for the Roadster. And over the summer we announced a string of new hires with auto industry pedigrees who give us deep expertise in the sector, including Mike Donoughe, Deepak Ahuja and Franz von Holzhausen.
It’s a fascinating time to be at Tesla  we’re experiencing an unprecedented amount of momentum. And the best part? I’m certain we haven’t even hit our stride yet. Just watch.
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/P.S. Maybe Tesla Motors will build the Tesla Tower
Who knows what future awaits us
