Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced that it intends to aggressively expand its network of charging stations in Europe over the course of next year. While it didn’t say exactly how many stations would be built, the number will be based on areas with higher sales, reports Christian Driessen for MarketWatch.
Tesla Motors’ supercharge stations
The Supercharge stations are capable of recharging a Tesla Model S in 20 minutes, giving it enough juice to travel 300 kilometers, according to Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) sales manager Jerome Gullen. Drivers with more time on their hands can get up to 480 kilometers worth of charge for some models. Recharging is still much slower than filling up, but the price should make up for it. The electricity will be offered free of charge.
Only Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) owners will be able to use the stations (supposedly because of the battery design, but possibly also because offering free electricity to the world would be expensive), but “wherever there is already a certain density of cars, we will strategically expand the network,” said Tesla’s vice president of business development Diarmuid O’Connell.
Guillen wouldn’t comment on sales numbers, only saying that the company is selling cars faster than it can make them. Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s strongest presence is in Norway, but it will start shipping cars to Germany, Spain, and Belgium soon.
Tesla stocks rising
This announcement comes at the end of a great year for Tesla. After reporting its first ever profits, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock has continued to rise and most people accept that what had seemed like a quixotic business venture is really going to pan out. Plenty of people think the stock is overbought, and its price may need a downward correction at some point, but the company has proven that its business model can work.
It’s also been a good year for Elon Musk, who has become a famous CEO in the vein of Steve Jobs, making big pronouncements and living up to them more often than not. His latest is the Hyperloop, a new idea for mass transit that would be faster, cheaper, and greener than anything currently available. Musk has said that he will build a prototype to prove that the design will work, though that is still years in the future.
