RENO — Tesla added more than 800 employees and $459 million in capital investment at the giant factory in Nevada that manufactures batteries for its electric cars during the fourth quarter of last year.
The latest tax incentive audit from the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development shows private spending surged past the benchmark needed to ensure Tesla’s state tax breaks, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported Tuesday.
The fourth quarter additions brought employment up to nearly 3,250 and capital spending to $3.7 billion. The company also employed more than 1,300 construction workers during the fourth quarter, bringing that employment up to about 13,700.
The state set the minimum capital investment benchmark at $3.5 billion in 2014 when the Legislature approved a subsidy package of $1.3 billion over 20 years to draw Tesla to Nevada. The investment needs to reach about $10 billion for the factory to qualify for the entire amount.
Construction investment at the Gigafactory east of Reno has already surpassed $4 billion with the $402 million Tesla reported spending during the first half of this year.
The fourth quarter figures, which include Tesla and partner Panasonic, qualify the companies for $23.3 million in transferrable tax credits for the period, increasing the qualified credits so far to $167 million.
“Tesla is an outstanding partner for Nevada, from surpassing their performance benchmarks at the Gigafactory to their $37.5-million pledge in support of science and robotics programs at our schools, they’ve done everything they said they would do and more,” said Paul Anderson, executive director for the Office of Economic Development.
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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
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