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FREE CONTENT: TESLA MOTORS |
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First published in Cleantech magazine, June/July 2007. Copyright Cleantech Investor Ltd,
California based electric car manufacturer, Tesla Motors, completed a $45m round of financing in May. The Series D investment round was co-led by Technology Partners and Elon Musk (the founder of PayPal and CEO of Space Exploration Technologies). Capricorn Investment Group also made a significant contribution. Ira Ehrenpreis, the leader of Technology Partners’ Cleantech investment practice, has joined the Telsa Motors management board. Previous investors in Tesla have included Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Vantage Point Venture Partners; Draper Fisher Jurvetson; JP Morgan Bay Area Equity Fund; Valor Equity Partners and Compass Venture Partners. All of the major investors participated in the latest financing round. The funds raised will be used for the development of White Star, an electric passenger sports sedan which is scheduled to be introduced in 2010.
The Tesla Roadster is due to start shipping in the autumn. The engineering team is based in Silicon Valley but the car is being assembled on the Lotus Elise production line in the UK. The Roadster has a carbon-fibre body, like the Elise. The battery, which can reportedly be recharged in around three hours, has a range of 250 miles. There is reportedly a waiting list of over 400 for the cars, which will initially be available only in the US at a price of $100,000. |
