Tesla opens Big Apple showroom

A few more pieces of the jigsaw fell into place for members of the electric car industry this week, as manufacturers continued to jostle for position in this emerging but potentially lucrative market.

US-based Tesla Motors, which was arguably the first to bring a bit of glamour to the sector when its exclusive Roadster was featured on the cover of Time magazine in December 2006, is continuing to market itself in the much same vein.

The company has this week opened a new 4,700 square foot showroom in bohemian - and expensive - Chelsea in New York, where it is also showcasing its latest 2010 Roadster model. The price tag of $109,000 will remain the same as previous Roadsters, of which 500 have already been sold. The cars are assembled by the UK's Lotus Cars in Hethel, Norfolk.

Although not cheap, Tesla is hoping to broaden the appeal of its new vehicle by introducing a five-year financing system provided by Bank of America. US
prospects will need to put down a $20,000 deposit and be able to afford a repayment plan of $1,700 per month, but a similar scheme will not materialise for customers elsewhere until late 2011 when the company launches its Model S sedan.

The opening of the new showroom follows a $465m injection of capital from the US Department of Energy and the purchase of four per cent of its shares by Abut Dhabi-based Aabar Investments.

The funding should enable Tesla to carry out its plans of opening a sales and service centre in New York, followed by the retail outlets in Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Washington DC, Monaco, Toronto and Munich. These facilities will supplement existing showrooms in London and Menlo Park, California, which is close to the firm's San Carlos headquarters.

Meanwhile, Volvo has signed up New York-based Enerl to provide the lithium-ion battery packs needed to power its two diesel hybrid V70 demonstration cars.

Volvo, which is based in Gothenberg, Sweden, is working with fellow Swedish company Vattenfall on a joint venture to produce a commercially available plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2012. The demonstration cars will be used to gather data about motorists' driving habits, charging requirements and performance expectations to input into the project.

Vattenfall is Europe's fifth largest electricity generating company and has operations in the UK, Denmark, Finland, Germany and Poland. It is testing both public and consumer electric charging stations for the batteries, which are expected to work for 31 miles before standard diesel or biodiesel fuel injections are required.

Finally, Toronto-based electric car developer Zenn Motor has raised C$9.3m after completing the sale of 2.65 million of its common shares. Some of the money will be spent on financing operations in areas such as product, customer and business development. But the rest is expected to be used to fund an additional $5m stake in partner organisation, EEStor. EEStor manufactures a capacitor for electricity storage that it claims can power a vehicle for 300 miles.

Zenn took the stake in EEStor earlier this month, bringing its current stockholding to 10.7 per cent. It has invested a total of $7.5m in the firm, with the aim of helping it move its technology into commercial production.