Elon Musk Says Gigafactory Deal Is "Extremely Good" For Nevada

Tesla Motors announced in early September that Nevada had been selected as the destination for its Gigafactory, something that has since been criticized as the result of manipulation and other unsavory tactics. Elon Musk has now addressed these reports, saying that he loves "backhanded compliments as much as the next person," but that the claims aren't true. He goes on to point out some details about the deal, doing so in a statement titled "The House Always Wins" as a reference to the nature of casinos.

Musk never points to any one specific criticism of the Gigafactory efforts, instead referencing "several articles", one of which likely includes Fortune's in-depth look at the business ordeal. Among the points laid out were alleged tactics Musk used to spur states into scrambling for the deal — a "master orchestrator" that ultimately scored $1.3 billion in incentives, according to the publication.

Musk points out in his statement that the Nevada legislature unanimously voted in favor of the proposal, something that is due to the deal being a "no-lose proposition for the state." Ultimately, the incentives are set to cover 5-percent or so of the total $5 billion Tesla anticipates as needed to get the Gigafactory fully in production over the next half decade. He goes on to say:

It stands to reason that the beneficiaries of a project should also contribute to its creation. Given that Nevada will have the largest and most advanced battery factory in the world and a very large number of high-paying direct and indirect jobs, contributing about 5% to the initial construction cost and a few percent to costs thereafter seems pretty fair.

He wrapped this up by pointing out that the deal is hinged on Tesla's performance — the company "must execute according to plan" to get the aforementioned incentives. For this reason, he says, "the state and Tesla both share the upside, [but] only Tesla suffers the downside."

SOURCE: Tesla