Tesla Gigafactory Jobs, Investments Fell Short Of Projections Last Year

Tesla's decision to build its massive lithium-ion battery-cell "Gigafactory" at a site near Reno, Nevada, was made in part because of generous incentives offered by the state government.

State lawmakers promised Tesla a total of $1.25 billion in tax incentives over many years in exchange for anticipated economic growth.

But thus far, Nevada may not be getting quite what its projections promised.

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Jobs at the site grew in 2015, as did investments by both Tesla and Panasonic--but both still fell short of projections, according to the local Reno Gazette-Journal.

A "dramatic spike" in full-time employees at the site occurred, and capital investment grew by nearly 60 percent, during the last quarter of 2015, the paper reported.

According a study by the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development. (GOED), Tesla and Panasonic have created 272 permanent jobs at the factory--representing a total quarterly payroll of $4.3 million.

They've also jointly invested $374 million in what is anticipated to be a $5 billion project.

But those figures fall short of projections made by economists hired by the GOED in 2014 to project the economic impact of the Gigafactory.

Those projections say Tesla and Panasonic should have invested $1 billion in the project by the end of 2015, and created 700 permanent jobs with a total quarterly payroll of $40 million.

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