Open Letter To MP’s & MLA’s
Dear Minsters of the Government,
Regardless of the current political divide and your views on Brexit, Our Organisation is campaigning for Telsa Motors to open a Gigafactory in Northern Ireland / North of Ireland.
There is a unique opportunity for Tesla to open its factory here because of the geological, economic and political benefits that Tesla could use to it’s advantage. Currently Tesla is unaware of why NI would be the best place to open a factory here and is looking at Germany for a factory. I ask all ministers to consider the facts in this letter and contact Tesla to ask them to come to NI.
Our Tax advantage over France and Germany would mean the costs of NI producing a Tesla car with WTO tariffs would be offset. This is very encouraging and could allow Tesla to have access to the EU or world markets depending on the Brexit outcome.
It is also likely there will be WTO reform when the UK leaves the EU. This would further strengthen our proposition to ask Tesla to bring operations to NI. In the unlikely event there is a Special Economic Area deal agreed for NI it would be a positive one because Tesla would have access to the UK internal market ,EU market and African Markets.
What Tesla means for NI’s Mining Industry
At the time of writing this letter a very large cobalt deposit was discovered in the Sperrin Mountains by an Australian mining company. This is worth £61,041 per Ton (20/06/18). In 2015 it was estimated that Tesla needed 7,800 Tons for its Model 3 Electric Car. This could be worth at least £476 Million each year to the NI Economy for just this car alone.
With 3 new cars planned as well as electric HGV’s it would be worth billions to NI in just mining alone.
This is not the only element that is required to build an electric car, Lithium is also needed. The British Geological Survey also suggests that NI may have significant deposits of Lithium in the west of NI. This would mean a big economic boost for the west which has seen less investment compared to the east of NI.
Telsa is estimated to need 93,000 tons each year in Lithium alone. With current prices above £15,100. This would be worth upto £1.4 Billion to the local economy if we had enough deposits to meet Tesla’s supply.
What about the factory?
With an estimated 5000 cars needing to be produced each month to cope with demand the factory would include a steady source of jobs. The current Gigafactory in Nevada is estimated to have around 1,850 high paid employees earning around £40k+ a year. It would create over 1000 construction jobs over 5 to 10 years, something that the local construction industry would be keen to work towards given its lack luster performance over the last decade.
Tesla could also stimulate investment in Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is one of the Ulster Universities’ Economic Policy Centre’s core economic objectives. Tesla plans to create self driving vehicles which would encourage the Machine learning research in our local Universities. This would have long term benefits in creating new local businesses and further growth in international investment.
With this potential spur of investment in machine learning it would provide the local banking and space industries with an opportunity to expand in this field.
The factory would need to ship at least 500–700 cars a week to the continent and Africa from our deep sea ports such as Londonderry / Derry and Belfast. Which would be a huge boost to the local ports which are seeking further investment and expansion. This alone could be worth upto £150 million a year to the ports. It would also increase the amount of jobs in the ports which would see a small revival in activity.
Where would the factory be located?
The factory could be potentially located in 6 locations, Ballymoney, Dungannon, Bangor, Magherafelt , Nutts Corner and Maze Long Kesh.
The main reason why these locations have been chosen is because all of these locations have direct access to A and M arterial routes to both Belfast and Londonderry / Derry ports.
We have been looking at a balanced approach to looking at different areas in which Tesla could stimulate the local economies. The west of NI could be the best fit, introducing new jobs in an area that has less investment.
What is estimated economic beneift Tesla could provide to NI?
For an accurate figure we have to look at the factory based in Nevada, which provides around £75.9 billion of economic benefit over 10 years for the state. It is most likely that the same benefit would apply to NI however mining is not included in this figure. The total figure could be in the region of £80–82 Billion over 10 years.
If the tax receipts were kept at 12.5% would mean that each year the NI Government would earn between £1 Billion and £1.1 Billion each year. This would be enough to build 2 York Street Interchanges each year for 10 years. It would mean we could construct 20 new schools each year. It could also allow NI to build a new University each year for 10 years. It could allow the expansion of the railways from Portadown to Omagh, Enniskillen and Strabane.
As an MP or MLA what can I do?
You can do three things.
- You can follow and elevate our campaign locally, Nationally and Internationally. Contact National and International papers to bring attention.
- Tweet to Elon Musk after 9am EST and state the benefits NI could have to Tesla and that you wish to discuss our campaign to bring Telsa to NI. Please Tweet via your MP/MLA account. Tweet to him regularly.
- Speak to other MLA’s / MP’s and sign a letter to petition Tesla to set up operations in NI.
