Nevada state officials are working on a deal to bring the electric car startup Faraday Future to North Las Vegas. Some say that deal could potentially bring in more money than northern Nevada’s Tesla. Marcus Lavergne reports.
Officials with the Governor's Office of Economic Development have been tight-lipped for months, while the department has been trying to attract the company's proposed $1 billion plant and 4,500 jobs.
Faraday Future announced earlier this month that Nevada is one of four finalists for the factory, and the company said it would make its selection within weeks.
Robert Lang is with Brookings Mountain West at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He said the city's northern industrial sector is an ideal location for the factory.
“It offers one, proximity to a really serious airport,” Lang said. “It’s also on the supply chain from the port of LA up I-15. It’s got rail out at Apex. It’s got a lot of land.”
Lang recently spoke to our public radio partner, KNPRin Las Vegas. He also pointed out that the factory's proposal is:
“...actually a bigger deal than Tesla,” Lang said. “There’s more employment. About a third of the employment in value in northern Nevada leaks to California. By contrast, we’re relatively isolated from other population centers so there’s virtually nothing you lose to this region by way of employment stimulus.”
Faraday reps say they hope to bring a vehicle to market as early as 2017.
NOTE: This story was produced with information from a recent interview by our public media partner KNPR in Las Vegas.
