Tesla to supply Smart City Car Electrics

Tesla didn’t make much of a splash at the Detroit Motor Show – at first.

But it announced, as we reported, the launch of its Tesla Roadster S, and that it is to produce a saloon car as well. But it goes much further than that.

It seems that Tesla has some very ambitious plans. It wants to build a factory in San Jose, California, to churn out up to 20,000 electric cars a year, including the Tesla Roadster, the saloon we’ve already mentioned, and a crossover, an estate and a people carrier.

Elon Musk of Tesla has ambitious plans

What’s all this going to cost? Well, Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, is talking $300-400 million and he’s looking for Government loans to finance the operation.

But it’s not just producing cars that Tesla is moving forward on. It’s also offering its technology out to other companies, and has announced that it will be providing the batteries for Daimler’s Smart City EV. Initially this will be for 1,000 cars that will go on sale in 2010, but if that’s a success it could lead to the roll-out of a mass production Electric Smart by 2012.

It would seem that Mr Musk, one of the founders of PayPal, has ambitious plans!

By Cars UK