
France is encouraging Tesla to build its cars at the site of its oldest nuclear plant.
According to French news agency AFP, French Minister of Ecology Ségolène Royal said Tuesday that she has encouraged Tesla CEO Elon Musk to consider building a car manufacturing facility on the site of the Fessenheim nuclear power facility.
The plant—located in Alsace, a region in northreast France near the nation’s border with Germany—is scheduled to close at the end of the year, despite concerns of resulting job cuts.
“The main problem is the site’s transformation,” Royal said, according to AFP. “We need to give hope to this community. My idea is to bring a Tesla factory.”
“I said to him: ‘I have a place for you, Fessenheim’. He didn’t say no,” she said, according to the report.
Royal, who has held her position as Minister of Ecology since 2014, said she will meet with Tesla officials in 10 days.
Automotive website Automobile Propre posted a video of a question and answer session Musk held in January in which he told members of the press that Tesla is interested in placing a car manufacturing facility in China and Europe.
“I try to make as many countries in Europe as happy as possible…this is idle speculation, but it’s like ‘well, maybe we can put a factory on like on Alsace,’ like half in Germany and half in France, something like that,” Musk said in the video.
[Via Reuters]