Electric vehicle startups and established automakers have lined up US$24 billion in investments in new factories in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Many of the states getting EV jobs are politically conservative Red States, whose Republican governors are both supportive of the fossil fuel industry and eager to welcome electric vehicle manufacturers and their jobs with subsidies and regulatory streamlining. "Tesla does not want to alienate that large and influential market. They don't want to invite criticisms or attacks from public advocacy groups accusing them of looking for a large incentive package or abandoning California at a time when the state is in peril," said John Boyd, principal of Boyd Company, a site selection firm.
Musk, one of the world's richest individuals, said he moved to Texas last year, and he has taken to his new home, wearing Western-style bandannas and shirts. California has income tax rates up to 13.3per cent, while Texas has no tax on personal income.On Thursday, Musk said the headquarters move is not a matter of Tesla leaving California entirely, and said production from Tesla's Fremont assembly plant and Reno, Nevada, battery factory will rise by 50per cent.
Like other large Texas cities, Austin and its surrounding Travis County, where the Tesla factory is located, are governed by Democrats, setting it apart from the majority of Texas' conservative red, less-densely populated counties.