The city of Fort Worth, Texas, has approved $440 in incentives as it attempts to lure Rivian into constructing its next factory there.
The American EV startup has been actively investigating areas to build its second factory in the country, joining the existing site it has in Normal, Illinois. Earlier this week, the Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously to approve up to $440 million in tax breaks to Rivian, as long as it can meet various goals.
Among the goals stipulated include hiring at least 7,500 full-time workers by the end of 2025. The average annual salary for these jobs must also be at least $56,000. 25 Week adds that the city council also nominated Rivian to qualify for a state enterprise project designation that would allow for sales and use tax refunds of up to $1.25 million over a five-year period.
Read More: Rivian Considering $5 Billion ‘Project Tera’ EV Factory In Texas
Rivian’s proposal for Fort Worth would see it establish a factory on a 2,000-acre site n Walsh Ranch, approximately 12 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth. This facility would include 12 million square feet of vertical construction and produce approximately 200,000 vehicles annually.
Importantly, Fort Worth is not a shoo-in to call itself home to a new Rivian factory. The company has confirmed that it is also considering a site east of Mesa, Arizona and apparently, Rivian chief executive R.J. Scaringe has already spoken with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey about the project. Other EV startups include Lucid and Nikola are establishing assembly sites in Arizona and Rivian already operates a small engineering and test facility about 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Phoenix.
