19 August 2009

Electric carmaker to open Calif. power train plant

In a move to expand its manufacturing capabilities, electric carmaker, Tesla Motors, will open a new power train production facility and corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

The three-building facility at the Stanford Research Park will build components for Tesla’s electric vehicles as well as parts for other automakers. At the start, the facility will employ 350 people. But it will have the capability to employ up to 650.

Right now the carmaker has a $109,000 Roadster sports car on the road, but it is working on additional vehicles to target more mainstream drivers. In March, it unveiled the Model S electric sedan, a seven-seater it hopes to price under $50,000 after government rebates. Production for that vehicle should start in 2011.

The company said it is still in negotiations over a site for its Model S assembly facility. The Palo Alto facility will not build that vehicle.

Tesla said it will finance the power train facility using part of the $465 million in low-interest loans it received from the U.S. Energy Department in June.

For related information, go to www.isa.org/manufacturing_automation.