Faraday deal still in the works, says Sandoval

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said on Tuesday negotiations with electric car company Faraday are continuing but not final yet.

Faraday has been reported nearing a deal with the state for well over three months but, each time reports surface that a deal is imminent, nothing materializes. The Legislature has been notified at least three different times to prepare for the special legislative session that would be necessary to make the tax breaks and incentives the company wants actually happen — most recently about a week ago with a session expected to be called for Dec. 16.

“We have to be ready for any contingency,” said Sandoval following the Board of Examiners meeting Tuesday.

But he quickly added he can’t say whether Nevada or one of the other states in contention has the inside track.

The tax and incentive package needed to bring the carmaker to Apex at North Las Vegas, Sandoval said, would be somewhere greater than the tax incentives approved by the 2015 Legislature but not the deal approved a year ago for the Tesla/Panasonic battery factory in Storey County 20 miles east of Reno.

“This is something that would fall in between,” Sandoval said.

The company funded by a Chinese billionaire announced in early November that it was planning a $1 billion auto plant in the U.S. to a new generation of electric vehicles — to compete with Tesla which currently sells the only production model all-electric car.

The company announced on its website www.faradayfuture.com on Nov. 5 that it would announce the location of its new plant “in the coming weeks.”