Tesla Roadster
Tesla Motors, Silicon Valley’s flashiest entry into the race to electrify the auto industry, will build a powertrain production facility in Palo Alto’s Stanford Research Park as it ramps up efforts to sell battery engine technology to other carmakers, the company said late Monday.
The facility, a renovated 350,000-square-foot site previously occupied by Agilent Technologies, will also serve as Tesla’s new corporate headquarters, with operations gradually shifting from its present quarters in San Carlos. About 350 employees are expected to be based at the site initially, potentially increasing to 600.
“For us it’s very significant,” said JB Straubel, Tesla’s chief technology officer and a member of the team that founded the company in 2004. “We’ve been expanding and growing in San Carlos for quite a few years now.” He added: “We’re excited to stay in the Bay Area. It’s the best place to be doing this kind of work.”
Tesla, led by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, also leader of Solar City and SpaceX — is a vivid symbol of the emerging clean-tech industry and the movement to curb the production of carbon gases and slow the effects of climate change. Much as the Toyota Prius has popularized hybrid engines that combine electricity and the internal combustion engine, Tesla is trying to catalyze the market for all-electric vehicles, based on its lithium-ion battery technology. The startup Better Place and a few other Silicon Valley companies are also involved in efforts to advance battery technology for the automotive market.
Tesla’s new home will serve to consolidate operations that now are spread across five locations a few blocks apart in San Carlos, and will give the young company ample room to grow, Straubel said. The proximity to Stanford and its engineering talent also made the site attractive, he said.
The new facility will house part of the operations that last year had been touted for San Jose, before the real estate deal unraveled.
The San Jose project was expected to include an assembly plant for Tesla’s planned push into the luxury sedan market with its Model S, expected to be priced at $49,000. Tesla said it expects to announce a location for the Model S plant later this year, probably outside the Bay Area.
Tesla is best known for its signature Tesla Roadster, a $109,000 two-seater that the company boasts is “faster than a Porsche and twice as energy-efficient as a Toyota Prius.” The company recently began delivery of its second iteration, the Roadster Sport, which lowered the car’s zero-to-60 miles-per-hour acceleration to 3.7 seconds from 3.9 seconds.
Tesla, which has delivered almost 700 Roadsters and has orders for hundreds more, recently announced that in July it achieved its first month of profitability. Its efforts in Stanford Research Park will focus on further research and development of lithium-ion battery technology, as well as manufacturing engine components for a new all-electric version of Daimler’s two-seat Smart “city car.” Daimler, the German company best known for the Mercedes, acquired a 9.1 percent stake in Tesla in May as part of a strategic partnership. Tesla is also creating technology for other automakers through arrangements yet to be disclosed, Straubel said.
The move to Stanford Research Park will be financed with $465 million in low-interest loans that the U.S. Department of Energy awarded to Tesla in June. Palo Alto City Manager James Keene hailed Tesla’s move. “Our city is a leader in promoting sustainability and has a strong commitment to green technology,” he said. “Tesla’s move is another indicator that Palo Alto is the place to be for the green-tech and alternative-energy companies that will help solve the daunting global environmental challenges of the 21st century.”
Source: San Jose Mercury News
Link: Tesla Motors
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