Tesla to get a grant from the state of California to help with the Model X
The automotive and political worlds tend to be in very close communication with each other, mostly because the car making industry is a big part of a country’s economy, and a crucial part of a region’s economy when there are plants built there.
There’s also this thing called lobbying which links one to the other tremendously as well, and while very few auto manufacturers would lobby any state in the U.S. to pass even more stringent zero-emission regulations, Tesla is one of them, mostly because zero-emission vehicles is what they do.
The thing is that California needs Tesla as well, because they’re seeing an increase in the number of cars on the road, and recently they’ve had some massive problems with the price of gas, however what they need from Tesla is for them to start producing a more varied range of electric vehicles, because till now Tesla have mostly focused on very expensive, high end EVs.
The Tesla Model X fits that balance between the needs of both the state and the company, however while still being a young company in a niche market, Tesla has some rather limited funds, hence why California has seen it fit to issue the automaker a $10 million grant in order to prepare its factory in Fremont, California to produce the new crossover SUV.
That may seem a lot and not enough at the same time, but it should be noted that Tesla has actually put $50 million towards this project, so the now $60 million will be put to good use to update equipment and bring new equipment that the company needs in order to produce the Model X.
This is good news, both for the state – because seven hundred new jobs will be created – and for the company as well because they are closer to the 2014 scheduled release of the Model X, which will have a suggested price starting with %57,400 and will go up to about $90,000, with the models nearing that top tier featuring dual-motor all-wheel drive and a 0-to-60 mph time of under five seconds.
