Valencia wants Tesla to open factory in Spain

In an open letter to Elon Musk, a group of Spanish enthusiasts have offered to host Tesla’s factory when the company plans to expand its production in Europe, Electrek.co first reported. Currently Tesla has an assembly plant in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The local government of Paterna in Valencia has already offered to host the factory. Other governments in Europe, such as France, have also offered to be a candidate for Tesla's expansion however the company is still mum on when and where will that happen.

"Tesla is looking for a location in Europe to keep building the future of the automobile industry. So we, the Spanish people, strongly believe we have the perfect site for it: Paterna, Valencia." the open letter states. "Paterna is located roughly 6 miles Northwest from Valencia, and it has just been approved to apply as one of the candidates for your factory" they added.

The letter goes on to state the many reasons the factory should be located in Paterna, from its strategic position in Europe, to its proximity to an airport, a rail network extending to all of the continent, its similar climate to Nevada, and the fact that the only two Supercharger stations on the peninsula are located nearby.

"Paterna has one of the best industrial parks in Spain, with many specialized automobile industry suppliers, since Ford’s factory is already located a couple of minutes away from it. One of the first Tesla Superchargers in Spain can be found there and many worldwide renowned companies have branches in Paterna, like Schneider Electric."

The most beneficial point for building a factory there would be to overcome the legal hurdles the energy industry is facing in the Spanish Congress due to the "tax on sunlight" bill introduced by the previous government, which made it difficult for customers to acquire a Tesla Powerwall. "Having Tesla’s interest in Spain would definitely accelerate this process, which would help the Spaniards to freely benefit from energetic self-sufficiency." the letter concluded.

Tesla's chief of operations JB Straubel recently explained that the company's expansion will happen gradually to meet the 1,000,000 vehicles production capacity planned in 2020, "we have to reach a critical mass in every market before we can expand to a new market. We try to take it one step at a time."

Spain hosts two of the world’s most prominent solar energy plants. which supply about the 50% of the country’s demand. It is one of the leading countries in graphene and carbon fiber research and development. Recently, the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia's Makers UPV Team won a design award at the SpaceX-sponsored contest to develop levitating cars for a Hyperloop rapid-transit test track.

An official petition has been posted on Change.org to help gather more attention.