US city launches bid for Tesla Cybertruck production

A CITY in America’s midwest has launched a bid to become the home of manufacturing for the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck all-electric pick-up, offering $US1 billion ($A1.55b) in incentives and savings for the US car-maker.

The city of Joplin in Missouri, near the tri-state border with Kansas and Oklahoma, has put together a website outlining the benefits of the EV manufacturer bringing its operations away from California.

Shared by Joplin chamber of commerce president Tony Teeber on Twitter, the Joplin bid was targeted towards Elon Musk, who last month stated on Twitter that Tesla was scouting locations in the midwest for the new site.

Along with the website, Joplin has also been in contact with Tesla to submit a formal bid for the Gigafactory site, which will also build the batteries for the vehicle.

Reports suggest a number of other cities have also been in discussion with Tesla about hosting the Gigafactory, such as Nashville, Tennessee, along with cities in Colorado, Texas and Arkansas.

Joplin’s dedicated Gigafactory website outlines its plans for the site – a 1042-acre site with rail access and close proximity to major arterial roads.

The site would have a 70MW capacity, and sits next to a 600MW generation facility.

As mentioned, Joplin is offering Tesla $US1b in incentives to bring its operation east, including a 100 per cent tax abatement for 12 years, state and local sales tax exemptions, tax credits and over $US75 million ($A116.83m) in annual payrolls savings.

The local labour costs have been touted as a boon as opposed to cities such as Austin and Nashville, while the website claims Joplin already has 150 battery engineers with 500 licenced engineers within a 60-mile radius.

For reference, Tesla has received incentives for its production facilities in the past, including a $US1b package for its original Gigafactory in Reno, Navada, while the ‘Gigafactory 2’ in Buffalo, New York, received around $US750m in subsidies.

No timeline has been provided by Tesla as to when it will announce its decision on building the Gigafactory, however the decision is expected to come relatively soon given production is expected to begin late next year.

Since being revealed in November last year, the wild-looking Cybertruck has received more than 250,000 orders globally, with Tesla to offer the pick-up with three different powertrain options.

The most powerful version uses a tri-motor set-up that allows for a driving range of over 800km, a 2.9 second sprint from standstill to 100km and a claimed towing capacity of 6350kg, bringing new levels of performance to the pick-up segment.