As a followup to our earlier article reporting that Trollhättan, Sweden, may be working to bring Tesla’s next Gigafactory to the area, we now have confirmation that this news was correct, as well as additional details.
Sweden’s Economic Development and Innovation Minister, Mikael Damberg (S), confirmed the efforts by Business Sweden to attract Tesla to the region in a conversation with Sveriges Radio P4 Väst earlier this week.
His comments (as translated for us by our Swedish friend Viktor Irle of EV Volumes) read: “I know a letter has been sent to Tesla and that they (Tesla) have marked that there is interest for Sweden. There will likely happen more things to this area in the near future,” said Mikael Damberg.
As we noted in our earlier coverage, the city of Trollhättan could potentially be a good choice for the location of the next Gigafactory (despite high labor costs) because of the largely idle ex-Saab plant there, the workforce in the area that has experience with auto manufacturing, and the proximity to Gothenburg’s rail-hub.
The ex-Saab plant is currently owned by China-based NEVS, but the company is reportedly open to leasing it and has a lot of extra space.
Viktor adds the note that, “Trollhättan is located on top of a hydropower plant that has been running for ~100 years and still produces about 1–2% of Swedish electricity. Infinite power. 😉 It even uses a natural dam, so no extra land was covered in water to make it. Very ecologically friendly.” That definitely seems like a powerful selling point for Elon/Tesla.
But it doesn’t end there. Viktor adds: “About 100 meters from Saab, GKN aerospace makes jet engines and rocket boosters (major parts). So, there’s a lot of engineering competence here in related fields.” The potential connection to SpaceX must also be appealing.
Back to the local news source: “We will see what we can do to draw them here to Sweden,” Damberg continued.
Not letting the point sit too subtly, the news source summarizes: “According to Mikael Damberg, the Swedish government can support [the Gigafactory] if Tesla Motors will go ahead with this plan.”
Sweden has a lot of competition, though, as we noted previously, with more or less every other country in Europe having now expressed interest in attracting the next Gigafactory. Tesla will reportedly be revealing the location of the next Gigafactory (or the next 2 or 3) by the end of the year.
In addition to a new facility in Europe, Tesla is also looking likely to begin building new Gigafactories in Asia and the US within the near future. How else will it keep up with demand for the Tesla Model Y & Model 3, Tesla Model S & X, Tesla semi trucks & pickup trucks, Tesla mini buses, Tesla Powerwalls & Powerpacks, and who knows what else?
Photo: Olidan Hydroelectric Power Station in Trollhättan, Sweden, by Tubaist (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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