ALAMEDA — Wrightspeed, the company created by Tesla Motors co-founder Ian Wright that produces technology to make commercial trucks greener and more energy efficient, is leaving San Jose and moving into what was once an aircraft hangar at the former Alameda Naval Air Station.
Wrightspeed will invest $3 million to establish an assembly facility inside the 110,000-square-foot hangar near the San Francisco Bay shoreline, the company announced Tuesday.
The company has about 25 employees and anticipates hiring about 250 more over the next three years, when the Alameda operation is expected to be up and running. Wrightspeed is expected to take possession of the former hangar in February.
An approximately $6 million grant from the California Energy Commission is helping spur the move to Alameda, where Wrightspeed secured a seven-year lease with an option to purchase the cavernous, city-owned building.
The move from San Jose means Wrightspeed will join Natal Energy, Google’s Makani Power, Imprint Energy and Sila Nanotechnologies at the former naval base, now known as Alameda Point.
What helps make the powertrain units from Wrightspeed innovative is that the technology can be installed in existing delivery and garbage trucks, lowering emissions and noise while allowing the aging vehicles to remain on the road when they might otherwise be scrapped. Electrifying the trucks also offers savings in fuel costs because they become battery-powered.
Among Wrightspeed’s customers is FedEx, which last year opted to retrofit 25 trucks with the company’s energy-saving devices.
“This is a significant move for us, and we thank both the city of Alameda and the California Energy Commission for their support in meeting our commercial scaling needs,” Wright said. “Alameda Point has a rich transportation history, and we’re pleased to be part of its next iteration as a hub of commercial innovation. I know our employees and partners will find that Alameda is a great business location and a great community to call home.”
Alameda City Manager John Russo called Wrightspeed “a perfect fit for Alameda,” noting that green energy companies currently take up 175,000 square feet of space at Alameda Point.
“Our strong business fundamentals — our central location, our highly skilled labor force, our appealing work environment and our safe, inviting community — will help lay the foundation for Wrightspeed’s continued success,” Russo said. “And with Wrightspeed’s relocation to Alameda Point, we are clearly another step along the road back to the days when Alameda Point was the city’s economic engine.”
In his inaugural address earlier this month, Gov. Jerry Brown called for California to obtain at least half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, as well as to reduce petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent.
The technology from Wrightspeed, which currently operates out of a 30,000-square-foot space in San Jose, is “a perfect example of how California can meet those goals,” said Andre Freeman of the California Energy Commission.
Wrightspeed will pay about $564,000 annually in rent to the city of Alameda. The company will also put $1 million into an account to pay for any needed upgrades of the former aircraft hangar.
The building borders 68 acres that Alameda officials plan to redevelop as a waterfront neighborhood with a mix of homes and businesses, including a new ferry terminal.
Contact Peter Hegarty at 510-748-1654 or follow him on Twitter.com/Peter_Hegarty.
