Tesla sparks off Daimler interest
Silicon Valley electric car maker attracts a substantial equity stake by Daimler AGIf you were impressed by the promise of the all-electric Tesla Roadster produced by the Silicon Valley based American company of the same name, then so was German car maker Daimler.
The slick two-seat Roadster, that is not only capable of exceeding 320km on one charge of its lithium-ion batteries (Tesla claims it will do nearly 400km on a charge), but also blasts fro zero to 60mp/h (97km/h) in a 911-embarrassing 3.9 seconds, attracted the maker of Mercedes-Benz, which figured Tesla would be an appropriate partner in further developing its electric energy expertise.
Daimler AG has announced the acquisition of an equity stake of nearly 10 per cent of the US company that will reap benefits from the combined technological expertise of the two organisations.
According to Dr. Thomas Weber (pictured right in car), a Member of the Board of Daimler AG who is responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, "Our strategic partnership is an important step to accelerate the commercialisation of electric drives globally,"
The two companies have already been working together to integrate Tesla’s lithium-ion battery packs and charging electronics into the first batch of 1000 Daimler all-electric Smart cars being built at the assembly plant in Hambach, France (Daimler has conducting trials of electric cars with 100 Smart vehicles on the roads in London since 2007).
Speaking about what Daimler will bring to the table in this electric meeting of minds, Tesla CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk (pictured left in car) said the German company is “on the leading edge in the field of sustainable mobility. Among others the lithium-ion pouch-cell battery developed by Daimler and especially designed for automotive applications is of interest to us. We are looking forward to a strategic cooperation in a number of areas including leveraging Daimler’s engineering, production and supply chain expertise. This will accelerate bringing our Tesla Model S to production and ensure that it is a superlative vehicle on all levels.”
An eclectic approach by Daimler to harnessing electric energy will be further underlined with plans to begin small-scale series production of a fuel cell powered Mercedes-Benz B-Class later this year, while the first battery-powered Benz will make its debut in 2010.
As of 2012, Daimler plans to equip all Smart and Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles with its own lithium-ion batteries produced through Deutsche Accumotive GmbH, a joint venture with Daimler AG and Evonik Industries AG and based on a stockholding in German lithium-ion battery cell specialist Li-Tec.
The impressive all-electric Tesla Roadster has the honour of being the first highway capable electric vehicle for sale in the US or Europe and has paved the way for another car under development – a four-door sedan called the Model S that is scheduled for production in the US in late 2011.
The Model S sounds even more impressive than the Roadster – the range is claimed to be bumped as high as 480km, while the acceleration is still startling. Tesla claims a zero to 97km/h figure of 5.6 seconds, which should be equally as embarrassing as the Roadster to emission-spewing conventional cars.
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