Tesla's tantalising plans

The start-up electric car company Tesla, manufacturing in sunny California, has reached across the globe to the shores of Europe and is now forging ties in the UAE.

The start-up electric car company Tesla, manufacturing in sunny California, has reached across the globe to the shores of Europe. Its high-performance sports car, the Roadster, which travels from 0 to 100 kilometres an hour in 3.9 seconds, has garnered rave reviews from environmentalists and driving fans alike for its zero emissions and thrilling performance. And though the Roadsters have yet to be made available here in the Middle East, novel initiatives undertaken by Tesla may mean residents of the UAE will have a chance to get a look at and drive the electric car sooner than they might think.

"We do not plan, for now, to be officially on sale in the Middle East," says Simon Rochefort, Tesla's director of sales and marketing in Europe. "But we have two ongoing projects with the UAE that we are very excited about." Rochefort, speaking on the telephone from his home in Paris, is thrilled about what he sees as the possibility to heighten the already growing interest in electric cars. "The first project is with a very large, international company. Their ventures are named Gold Green Abu Dhabi and Gold Green Dubai. The Dubai project is on an island that is under construction. They are really great projects, where you would have something like 1,000 flats on a private resort, in a totally energy- independent environment. Energy is supplied by solar power and windmills; it's eco-friendly from the bottom to the top, but with a high level of luxury.

"We are involved on several counts; first, the investors who are running this project would like to offer the Tesla Roadster as an option with the flats they are selling. The second thing is that the resort will buy a couple of dozen of Roadsters to be rented to users of the flats. Lastly, they also want to buy, for the Abu Dhabi area, 100 saloons, to use as taxis or transport to the airport." The company behind the Gold Green developments could not be reached for comment.

Tesla's second project in the Emirates involves something for which the two-seat Roadster is much more suited for. "We are working in Abu Dhabi and Qatar on two similar programmes. We are working on - a first in the world - two electric sports car championships. We have two independent investors, one in each country, who are in discussions with us to create two separate championships. "The two investor groups are very serious about this, and these projects have a real chance of coming through."

Because of the ongoing talks, Rochefort could not divulge where the cars would race or what groups Tesla was in talks with. Tesla is a company that seems on the way up. Already, its stock of 2008 models has been sold, and this year's production is sold out until November. Europe's share of 250 models for this year, (where each car sells for ?99,000), is expected to be sold by February. And, just last week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, announced that it signed a deal with Daimler in Germany to supply the manufacturer with battery packs and chargers for the smart electric car, which will go on sale in limited numbers in 2011.

But, financially, the company is hurting. Just like the Big Three car makers, it has asked for financial aid from the US government, saying that, if it does not get a sizable loan, its production of the proposed saloons, named the Model S, would be delayed. Originally, the saloons, which will be priced much lower than the Roadster, were planned to be built in a new $250 million (Dh918m) factory in San Jose, California, with cars expected to go on sale in 2011. Many analysts have been forecasting the company won't last that long, especially in such a dismal financial climate.

In the meantime, Tesla simply can't produce enough cars to meet demand. "We don't have a date for selling our cars in the Middle East, for now," says Rochefort. "But there is amazing interest for Tesla, and I hope that by the time we release our saloon, shortly after we will be on sale there." And though the cars aren't officially available here, Rochefort confirms there are a few already on UAE soil, though he won't say how many, or who has them. "We already have customers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi who couldn't wait and imported their own Roadster."

For Rochefort, the two UAE projects underline the legitimacy of Tesla and the electric car. "For the public, this is a very good way to show that this technology is really, really on its way, and it's here for good, and a lot of people are betting on the fact that the electric car is the right technology for now and for the years to come, way before hydrogen. These kind of projects reflect the fantastic interest in electric cars and I'm glad that we are the first company who actually make this a reality because our car is already in production and on sale."

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