First came Tesla; now North Las Vegas awaits its moment

Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015 | 2 a.m.

So Nevada, you want some economic diversity? North Las Vegas is ready to bring it on.

With the help of Gov. Brian Sandoval and his business promoters, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee and other city officials have been courting a Chinese company, Faraday Future, to build an automobile-manufacturing plant at Apex, the industrial zone on the edge of the city.

This would take economic diversity in a whole new and exciting direction.

These vehicles will be battery-powered and packed with cutting-edge technology similar to those being manufactured by Tesla Motor Co., the folks who are building the sprawling lithium battery plant outside of Reno to energize their cars (and to sell batteries to other companies).

You likely will remember the confetti, blaring of trumpets and drum rolls when Sandoval announced his staff had aggregated sufficient state enticements — in the end, valued at $1.3 billion — to snare Tesla.

The Legislature gathered in a special session 11 months ago to adopt the law allowing the package of tax breaks and credits, based on the fact that Tesla would make a capital investment of more than $3.5 billion in Nevada — the threshold the lawmakers set for triggering the financial enticements.

About the same time, North Las Vegas officials got wind that Faraday Future was searching the country for an appropriate site to build its car factory, and all but chased down the company’s U.S. executives to get on their radar screen. Since then, the Faraday folks have checked out Apex and North Las Vegas and state officials have checked out Faraday, and everyone is giving thumbs up.

Steve Hill, who heads the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, told us a few days ago that “we are working absolutely as diligently as we can to make this work … obviously we are really excited. This certainly is a potentially great opportunity for the state and Southern Nevada, and we are working tirelessly on it. This is absolutely the biggest thing we’re working on these days.”

And for good reason: This may well pencil out as a better deal for Nevada than Tesla. While Faraday Future’s investment in the project will be under the $3.5 billion threshold for sweeping tax incentives (thus the need for legislators’ approval), the economic payoffs could overshadow Tesla because of how the benefits of an automotive manufacturing plant versus a battery plant multiply through the community. While Tesla’s total economic impact is estimated at between $52.9 billion and $96.9 billion over the next 20 years, Faraday is projected by UNLV faculty and Brookings Mountain West to generate $85.6 billion for the economy over the same time. The plant is predicted to generate more than 13,000 direct, support and ripple-effect jobs, earning $681 million in wages a year.

This opportunity is coming as North Las Vegas continues to execute an impressive turnaround in managing its own financial affairs. When Lee stepped into office, the city’s credit rating was in a free fall, but after 24 months of decisive action, Moody’s has upgraded the city’s credit rating. With the state’s help, North Las Vegas is in a position to nurture an industry new to Nevada and one that will benefit all of the state.

And so it goes in the history of Nevada’s good fortunes — from silver and gold mining to gaming to the production of lithium batteries now comes what may be the brightest prospect yet. We applaud North Las Vegas for its ambitions and vision, as well as the governor and his staff for its support.

We are counting on legislators to again do the right thing for Nevada during a special legislative session. We’ve beat the drum for economic diversity that will drive jobs, produce revenue for the state and bring stability to Nevada’s economy. Let’s bring out the trumpets, the snare drums and the confetti one more time.