On Tuesday, ElectraMeccanica, a designer and manufacturer of electric vehicles announced it is expanding production out of China with a new factory in the United States. The company has selected Mesa for its U.S. based assembly facility and engineering technical center.
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The company say the selection of Mesa marks the end of a comprehensive, year-long site search conducted by ElectraMeccanica and its partner, BDO USA’s Site Selection & Incentives Practice.
Since late February 2020, the company has been engaged in a nationwide review of potential locations that matched ElectraMeccanica’s technical and workforce criteria. BDO initially identified seven candidates and sent requests for proposals to the chief economic development entities and local authorities in each state who in turn responded with detailed bids.
In June, following comprehensive reviews and site visits, the company narrowed the candidate list to five. In August, the list was further narrowed to three states and in October, the company named Arizona and Tennessee as the two finalist states. The last few months of the selection process involved rigorous proposal reviews and negotiations to select the most well-suited partner.
The company says the proposed facility in Mesa will support ElectraMeccanica’s strategic plan to meet anticipated demand for their flagship SOLO EV. When fully operational, the facility is expected to create up to 500 new jobs and will be capable of producing up to 20,000 SOLOs per year. Altogether it will feature both a light vehicle assembly plant along with an engineering technical center, including multiple labs to support comprehensive research facilities as well as vehicle chassis, battery pack and power electronics testing workshops.