First SNJCC Student inside Tesla

(Reno, Nevada). The super-secret Tesla Tiger Project worksite, hidden from view in a valley at the tail end of Electric Avenue, is strictly off-limits to unauthorized visitors or photography. Armed Tesla Security guards, a helicopter, and drones patrol the fenced perimeter.

Competition for jobs at the site is fierce, to boot. But one Sierra Nevada Job Corps student has made it inside the Tiger Project: 20-year old plastering completer Alex Morataya-Mancilla.

The Plasterer’s Union helped Alex him get the job, fireproofing the giant structures that will soon comprise the giga-factory. “It’s pretty hard work,” Alex said with a laugh, “and the weather has been rough lately”, referring to the unseasonable hail storms recently sweeping Northern Nevada. “But the money’s pretty good,” he added with a laugh.

Mississippi-based Yates Construction rides herd on a hundred sub-contractors (and Alex) at the site, located 17 miles east of Reno, Nevada. When is factory is completed in 2017, the Panavision battery manufacturer will produce the thumb-sized Tesla batteries, bundled into clusters of 100. Each new Tesla car needs 700 of these clusters to operate. Alex got his high school diploma, his plastering certifications, and his driver’s license while attending SNJCC. “I owe all the people at Job Corps a lot. There’s no way I could have gotten a job like this without Job Corps,” he said. “I would still be sitting on a couch at home back in Vegas, starving.”

Sierra Nevada job Corps is a federally funded vocational providing free training for young Nevadans ages 16-24.