Daimler to announce "strategic partnership" for EVs tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, May 19, Daimler will be holding an online press conference to make what it calls a major announcement in the EV space. Management board member Dr. Thomas Weber and a key executive of one of the company's suppliers will make an announcement about a strategic investment. While Daimler is not giving any details right now about which company this might be or the nature of the investment, we're told by our sources that the partnership is with Tesla.
Tesla is supplying battery packs and charging systems to Daimler for use in its second-generation electric Smart. That particular deal is only for about 1,000 cars that will be used in an international test fleet. Tesla seems an unlikely partner for any production programs for Daimler. Daimler already has a joint venture with Evonik to produce lithium ion batteries and long standing relationships with suppliers like Bosch and Continental for electronics and motors as well as other systems.
On the other hand, a Tesla investor dropped a hint about a possible investor last week, so who knows. To find out virtually live what gets announced, come here to ABG at 7 a.m. eastern time Tuesday. We'll have a live blog of the event.
[Source: Daimler]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jharlan 5:14PM (5/18/2009)
Daimler and Tesla? Might just work. I can see advantages for both sides.
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augustus 7:08PM (5/18/2009)
More like Smart and Tesla. I don't think we are going to see an EV C series announced.
harlanx6 7:47PM (5/18/2009)
You are probably right, at least for the near future.
jake 10:33PM (5/18/2009)
@augustus
Not a C-class but the CLS chassis looks like a decent chassis to put into the Model S, though Tesla said they wanted to make a custom chassis. Maybe some tweaks to lower weight and to factor in the battery, but it should save Tesla a decent amount of money.
harlanx6 9:25AM (5/19/2009)
Could it be that we were wrong?
Chris M 5:14PM (5/18/2009)
Tesla assembles the battery packs, but they don't make the cells that go into those packs, so it is entirely possible that Tesla could work with cell supplier Evonik to make battery packs for Daimler.
The agreement/investment could work the other way as well. Tesla Motors might contract with Daimler to produce their Model S for the European market, avoiding the cost of shipping cars across the Atlantic.
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John Pelletier 6:04PM (5/18/2009)
possible dealership use as well, that would certainly go a long long way toward acceptance of Tesla and put to bed many fears potential buyers could have. certainly looking forward to the possibilities of this
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