Tesla Giga 5’s Newest Flavors: Austin Approves Tax Incentives, Tulsa Offers Free Pizza

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The newest flavors in the ongoing story of Tesla’s next American Gigafactory includes the choice of free pizza or tax incentives. Of course, Tulsa is probably offering well more than just free pizza — that’s just the latest that we know of. Hello, extra cheese, pineapple, and onion — well-done deliciousness!

What more does @Tesla need to pick #Tulsa?@Mazzios is offering a free pizza to ALL of #Tesla's employees in Tulsa if we are selected for Tesla's new factory. That's about 7,000 pizzas!! 🍕 @elonmusk

— Brian Dorman 💙 (@BDormanTV) July 8, 2020

A local pizzeria, Mazzio’s, wanted to sweeten the pot to entice Tesla to choose Tulsa. Mazzio’s made a tasty offer that will give Tesla employees free pizza if Tulsa is chosen for the next factory. Yes, 7,000 free large pizzas. “Mazzio’s has called Tulsa home for nearly 60 years and we want to extend a warm Tulsa welcome to the Tesla employees if we are chosen,“ said Lori Carver, CEO and president of Mazzio’s LLC. “Tulsa would be a great choice for Tesla because we know first-hand how well the people in this area support our businesses and that’s part of what makes this area so attractive.”

Tulsa’s love for Tesla has been shared all over Twitter and the city has been very vocal about its support of Tesla and hopefulness at being chosen for the new Gigafactory. Tulsa’s famous icon, the Golden Driller, which is a statue of an oilman, was even remade into Elon Musk. “Elon” wore the Tesla logo on his chest in a similar style as Superman wore his famous “S.” Mayor G.T. Bynum wants Tesla to team up with Tulsa to change the world and even promised to buy Cybertrucks for police vehicles. Also, in case no one has noticed, Tesla Tulsa has a nice sound and similar spelling. (Editor’s note: And it’s similarly easy to make the typos “Tusla” and “Telsa.”)

If @Tesla and #Tulsa team up to change the world, it would only be right to #BuyLocal. #cybertruck @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/cQJ5baF1iN

— G.T. Bynum (@gtbynum) May 17, 2020

Earlier this month, Elon Musk and Craig Hulse, Tesla’s director of policy and government affairs, were invited to meet with Oklahoma’s Governor, Kevin Stitt, on Independence Day. Up for discussion was the possibility of locating a Tesla factory in the area instead of a location near Austin, Texas.

We had a great visit with @elonmusk yesterday talking @Tesla in Tulsa!

Oklahoma is the right place for Tesla and I thank all of the Oklahomans who have shown their overwhelming support. Keep it up! #Tulsa4Tesla pic.twitter.com/eVhIeCIvwv

— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) July 4, 2020

Tulsa isn’t playing around when it comes to enticing Tesla and Elon Musk. “We really want Tesla bad. We really, really, really want them and are going to do everything we possibly can to lure them here,” Tulsa’s Regional Chamber President and CEO, Mike Neal, said.

Giga Austin Approved Tax Incentives & Land Use

Last month, Tesla submitted an application with the Del Valle Independent School District for its possible gigafactory there and requested $68 million in tax incentives. On Thursday, Del Valle ISD approved those tax incentives. This will allow Tesla to build a 4 to 5 million-square-foot facility on the school district’s land. The location, KXAN noted, will be at the intersection of State Highway 130 and Harold Green Road and will be situated on around 2,100 acres.

If Tesla chooses the Austin area, there will be almost $1.1 billion in investments expected, which would make this possibly the largest Austin economic development project in a generation. If all approvals are fast-tracked by no later than July 31, Tesla could begin construction soon. Knowing Tesla a bit, I think it would be mid-August at the latest. Austonia asked a source familiar with Tesla’s way of doing business and the answer was that for every day of lost production, there is lost revenue. “It’s just the way business looks at it.”

Ed Latson, executive director of the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association, told Austin Business Journal in a statement, “Tesla opening a factory in Southeast Austin will be transformative for Central Texas by adding another layer of diversification and resilience to our economy. It will create high-paying jobs that provide opportunity to all educational backgrounds, from PhDs to GEDs. And it should be a magnet for an entire ecosystem of businesses and suppliers that support automotive plants and their employees.”

Seeing pizza as another enticement from Tulsa may have you a bit hungry, but seeing two American cities and states recognize the value of Tesla, an electric carmaker, battle for the next gigafactory is refreshing. Especially since both states are well known oil states. Although both are getting their feet planted in green energy initiatives, the reputation of being associated with big oil is a hard one to shake. Having a Tesla gigafactory in your state will definitely help shake that reputation. Whichever state wins, it will be a win not just for clean energy or the state alone, but for America. Tesla is a job creator as well as a leader when it comes to pushing technology forward. Any state should be proud to have Tesla as one of its job creators.