Tesla Gets $34 Million Tax Break, Adds Capacity For 35,000 More Cars 238
cartechboy writes "The state of California will give Tesla Motors a $34.7 million tax break to expand the company's production capacity for electric cars, state officials announced yesterday. Basically, Tesla won't have to pay sales taxes on new manufacturing equipment worth up to $415 million. The added equipment will help Tesla more than double the number of Model S sedans it builds, as well as assemble more electric powertrains for other car makers. In addition to continued Model S production, Tesla plans to introduce the Model X electric crossover in late 2014, as well as a sub-$40,000 car — tentatively called Model E — that could debut as soon as the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. It turns out California is one of the few states to tax the purchase of manufacturing equipment — but the state grants exemptions for 'clean-tech' companies."
So let me get this straight... (Score:5, Interesting)
Big corporations are evil because they don't pay their taxes unless it's our pet company in which case it's all wine and roses.
Re:Why shouldn't it? (Score:3, Interesting)
"For the rich" is still a valid objection, pending future decreases in battery costs. However, your concerns about manufacturing process and moving energy use around are ignorant trolling. An electric car uses vastly less energy overall than an internal combustion engine (heat engines being limited by thermodynamics and material properties to poor net efficiencies). Even with "worst case" electrical power sources (burning fossil fuels to run generators), the full cycle efficiency of an electric car is far better than gas vehicles. Electric infrastructure also allows transitioning to more clean energy sources as they become available --- your car gets "cleaner" as wind/solar/tidal/geothermal/etc. power sources are rolled out. The up-front manufacturing processes are (a) similar to existing gas cars, (b) do not dominate environmental impacts over a car's lifetime, and (c) the "extra stuff" (batteries) not in regular cars is highly recyclable.
Re:Thanks, California taxpayers! (Score:1, Interesting)
Once you subtract $180/mo in gas, it gets a lot less steep.
After you add back in the cost of Electricity, the price of replacing the batteries when they die, rental cars when you actually need to go somewhere, hotel rooms when you get stranded waiting for it to charge, tow trucks when you run out of charge, opportunity cost because the you can't travel anywhere while your waiting for you piece of shit electric car to charge, etc...
The price sky rockets back up again.
Re:Thanks, California taxpayers! (Score:5, Interesting)
Electricity is cheap. I pay $30/month for my car to go 1000 miles. How far does your car go for 30 bucks?