Photo: Rivian/Google Maps
Rivian is willing to spend serious money on its new factory, known so far only by the codename Project Tera. The EV startup plans to spend $5 billion to have two plants in the same land: one for its cars and another for batteries. After Reuters said that Arizona was the favorite to receive the investment, Bloomberg discovered that a Texan city might win the challenge: Fort Worth.
The city would have a 2,000-acre terrain in Walsh Ranch, 12 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth. Rivian wanted 10,000 acres, but the Arizona government already said it was doubtful that the company would find a piece of land that big in that state. Apparently, Texas also does not have a property that big to offer Rivian.
The size of the land is not all that matters for the final decision. Although Rivian was very keen on Arizona, some concerns about the available infrastructure were brought up, and things got a little harder for that state. Lucid already has two factories there, more precisely in Casa Grande: AMP-1 and LMP-1.
Texas would offer advantages thanks to ports, the proximity to Mexican suppliers, and a booming tech economy. Tesla chose Austin to create its new factory, apparently for more than just being close to SpaceX.
Fort Worth wants to make sure it did all it could to attract Rivian. The city’s Economic Development Department told the City Council they could offer grants and county tax reduction of up to $440 million.
Whatever city Rivian chooses for its new factory, it should get 7,500 new jobs by 2027. According to the Project Tera documents Bloomberg obtained, Rivian will ensure minimum average annual salaries of $56,000, which only tells us that the company will spend a minimum of $420 million only paying wages in 2027. Rivian may fund that payroll with Fort Worth’s incentives and still have $20 million to spare. We’ll learn soon if that made any difference.
Source: Bloomberg
The size of the land is not all that matters for the final decision. Although Rivian was very keen on Arizona, some concerns about the available infrastructure were brought up, and things got a little harder for that state. Lucid already has two factories there, more precisely in Casa Grande: AMP-1 and LMP-1.
Texas would offer advantages thanks to ports, the proximity to Mexican suppliers, and a booming tech economy. Tesla chose Austin to create its new factory, apparently for more than just being close to SpaceX.
Fort Worth wants to make sure it did all it could to attract Rivian. The city’s Economic Development Department told the City Council they could offer grants and county tax reduction of up to $440 million.
Whatever city Rivian chooses for its new factory, it should get 7,500 new jobs by 2027. According to the Project Tera documents Bloomberg obtained, Rivian will ensure minimum average annual salaries of $56,000, which only tells us that the company will spend a minimum of $420 million only paying wages in 2027. Rivian may fund that payroll with Fort Worth’s incentives and still have $20 million to spare. We’ll learn soon if that made any difference.
Source: Bloomberg
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