SAN ANTONIO — Tesla Motors Inc. on Wednesday revealed little new information about San Antonio's chances for landing the company's multibillion-dollar “gigafactory.”

However, Tesla Chairman and CEO Elon Musk told investors in a conference call that the electric automaker expects to break ground within the next month on one of at least two lithium-ion battery plants. He also confirmed California, where Tesla manufacturers its vehicles, is back in the running for the production facility.

While Musk did not mention specific sites, it appears Texas remains in competition for the plant with fellow finalists Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. But experts and people involved in the site-selection process have said San Antonio and Reno, Nevada are the strongest contenders for the project, which Tesla expects will create nearly 6,500 jobs.

On Wednesday, Musk reiterated his recent statement to Associated Press that the company will move forward with at least two locations for the gigafactory, “just in case one of them encounters some issues after breaking ground.”

Musk also told investors that Tesla officially signed a letter of intent with Panasonic to potentially partner on the project.

“We are talking to various different people in parallel,” Musk said. “I think it's important to understand that there's a lot of aspects to this that Panasonic doesn't do. Those discussions are underway, but it's premature to talk about any specifics.”

On its website in February, Tesla posted a presentation that indicated it will directly invest about $2 billion in the battery and rely on partners to cover the other $3 billion.

J.B. Straubel, Tesla's chief technical officer, said he expects Tesla to sign a final agreement with Panasonic in “the later part of this year.”

“Under that letter of intent, we've also created a joint working team between Panasonic and Tesla that's working almost daily, certainly weekly (and) making progress,” Straubel said.

Last month, a Tesla spokeswoman told the San Antonio Express-News that the company would announce a site within two to three months.

For the complete story, visit www.expressnews.com or read a Thursday edition of the San Antonio Express-News.