Tesla in talks over 'giga-factory' in Portugal

Paul Rees

tesla Elon Musk wants to produce Tesla electric cars and batteries in Europe - Portugal is being studied as one of the locations.

Tesla management is said to have been talking ‘at the highest level’ within Portugal’s government to install its European giga-factory in the sun-blessed country.

The US company wants to manufacture cars and lithium-ion batteries, "Tesla has already approached the Portuguese Government and there have been talks in this direction," revealed a source at the Ministry of Economy.

An industrial investment of this magnitude would make António Costa's government look incredibly cool and help start to build Portugal’s image as a renewable energy centre of excellence as the giga-factory runs on solar power produced from hectares of PV panels on the roof.

Economy Minister, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, is saying nothing for now, but will have his eye on the number of jobs that can be created if the US company takes a shine to Portugal.

The project is huge, Tesla will create 6,500 direct jobs and more than 22,000 indirect jobs and will invest five billion US dollars to build the plant. Many of the indirect jobs will be at suppliers to the factory with dozens of local companies and factories created to support the factory's production.

Spain also is being studied, in particular Galicia despite its rainfall and cloud cover. "There is no doubt that in the long term, Tesla will have one, and maybe two or three, European car and battery factories," Elon Musk told investors in early November 2016.

Tesla already has a factory in the Netherlands but it does not produce cars, it assembles them from imported parts ex-USA. The brand’s new lower cost car is due to be launched next year with target sales of 500,000 cars in the coming years.

A Tesla giga-factory produces much of the energy it consumes through solar panels installed on its roof.

This is precisely one reason why Tesla is looking at Portugal and Spain, as the Iberian Peninsula is one of the European regions with the highest solar radiation.

Comments

0 #12 JamesC108 2019-06-12 11:57

Wonderful to harness the suns energy to help a greener climate but on the flip side mining for lithium to produce the required batteries to power the car will destroy the natural habitat at the expense of job creation and so called economic advancement

-5 #11 Samuel1 2018-10-30 11:56

Maybe in Spain they could leave the machinery working by itself, while the "siesta" goes full on.
And also that most countries in Europe will stop hiring the "lazy" and specialised Portuguese to compensate for the lack of domestic competent people they have.

-9 #10 Jon 2018-05-10 05:20

Sounds good if at least the Portuguese like to work and not just have days off and vacations!

0 #9 tone22 2017-07-25 10:00

Quoting Simon:

Hope the Government finally realizes the future is green and Portugal could be a leader providing good jobs for the educated children leaving schools.

all the sunshine going to waste , not even a domestic solar market here. Portugal has the space to produce mega electricity output , come on in Tesla , please .

+9 #8 Jude Irwin 2016-12-28 08:41

Portugal has Europe's largest deposits of lithium, required for Tesla's batteries, an obvious reason to choose this country. The deposits are near Guarda, so it's likely Spanish will be involved in extraction and processing as well. Jobs enough for all, boys and girls. It wouldn't make sense to have the main factory there, however; you need to go where the skills and infrastructure are best, and that will be Lisbon or Porto areas, most likely. We shall see. Tesla is powerful enough to create its own "new manufacturing centre", and the workforce here are intelligent, hard-working and affordable. Let's promote Portugal's many excellent advantages to an investor.

+7 #7 Mayombe 2016-12-26 10:24

Quoting Jack Reacher:

Tesla shall do its Due Diligence on Portugal and realise the corrupt and bureaucratic environment that poisons the country. The sun also shines in Spain.

Yes it does. And the Spaniards are as much or even more vicious and disgraceful as any Portuguese will ever be.

-36 #6 Jack Reacher 2016-12-11 19:27

Tesla shall do its Due Diligence on Portugal and realise the corrupt and bureaucratic environment that poisons the country. The sun also shines in Spain.

+28 #5 Rui lobao 2016-11-29 19:29

Portugal is fantastic leading the world in renewable energy.
Go Portugal/Tesla

-16 #4 TBrites 2016-11-20 18:16

You can build the factory near - or even in the property - of Miss Ângela Rosa! I'm certain she won't mind!

-3 #3 Tim B 2016-11-20 14:26

Let'S hope this happens. In the meantime, we need some Superchargers in Portugal (and Spain) so that a Tesla car can be driven from Santander down to the Algarve.

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