Gov. Schwarzenegger Joins Tesla and Toyota Officials to Announce Acquisition of NUMMI Facility
Toyota to Invest $50 Million in Tesla and Partner to Manufacture Electric Vehicles, Create Over 1,000 Green Jobs
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined President and Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation Akio Toyoda, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tesla Motors Elon Musk and Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado to announce an historic new partnership between the automotive companies that will benefit California’s economy and environment. Toyota announced it will invest $50 million in Tesla Motors and will partner with Tesla to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs). Additionally, Tesla announced that it will acquire the NUMMI plant in Fremont and begin production of its Model S EV in 2012. Today’s action could create more than 1,000 green jobs in California.
“What we are witnessing today is an historic example of California’s transition to a cleaner, greener and more prosperous future. We challenged auto companies to innovate, and both Tesla and Toyota stepped up in a big way, not only creating vehicles that reduce emissions and appeal to consumers but also boosting economic growth,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “Tesla, just a start-up company a few years ago, will soon employ Californians in green jobs on a large scale at the former NUMMI plant. In fact, Tesla’s founding and expansion in California is a direct result of our nation-leading policies that support demand for green products and the companies and people who produce them. I am thrilled with today’s announcement and can’t wait to see what this partnership brings next.”
Tesla will use the NUMMI plant to begin production of its second generation vehicle, the Model S EV. This 300-mile range, seven-seat SUV will open Tesla Motors to a whole new market of car buyers. Once it reaches full production mode at the NUMMI plant, Tesla expects to produce 20,000 EVs per year. Tesla is a California company, founded in 2003 in Silicon Valley. Their first vehicle, the Tesla Roadster, was the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production EV with a range greater than 200 miles per charge that could go from 0-60 in under four seconds.
Governor Schwarzenegger has led the way in implementing policies that encourage auto manufacturers to be bold and innovate, and these policies are not only promoting job creation and influencing national policies, they’re also helping provide a cleaner, greener environment for generations to come. Some of the most significant policies that are allowing innovative green companies to create jobs and thrive in California include:
• Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32): AB 32 established a first-in-the-world comprehensive program of regulatory and market mechanisms to achieve real, quantifiable, cost-effective reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. The law will reduce carbon emissions in California to 1990 levels by 2020. Mandatory caps will begin in 2012 for significant sources and ratchet down to meet the 2020 goals. The Governor has also called for the state to reduce carbon emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050.
• Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS): California’s LCFS requires fuel providers to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels sold in the state, dramatically expanding the market for alternative fuels. To start, the LCFS will reduce carbon content in all passenger vehicle fuels sold in California by at least 10 percent by 2020 and more thereafter.
• Automobile Emissions Standards: After years of fighting the federal government for the authority to implement our greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted California’s waiver and the Obama Administration adopted it for the country.
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More Oil Than First Reported
This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on May 10, 2010 and released by NASA on May 17, shows the oil spill which has remained in the Gulf of Mexico not far from the Mississippi Delta
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