DUBLIN: Electric car giant Tesla is coming to Ireland next year. The Silicon Valley firm, led by tech innovator Elon Musk, is preparing to open a store in Ireland in 2017, along with rolling out supercharging stations on the island.
The store is likely to be in Dublin, while the likely locations of the four supercharging stations are Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast.
The supercharging stations allow for fast – and free – recharging for Tesla owners. Each station comprises between six and eight charging stands and are customarily located near food and retail facilities. According to the firm, 30 minutes plugged into one of these stands gives a Tesla a range of over 270km. According to official figures, Tesla’s current fleet of electric vehicles can travel up to 613km on a single full charge.
Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen, Tesla Motors’ director of Nordic sales, says the opening of the Irish store “will happen simultaneously with the introduction of superchargers”. He told The Irish Times the firm was “pretty far into the process” of entering the Irish market. The Irish store will be operated directly by Tesla.
Tesla Motors Ireland Ltd was incorporated last August, with a registered address at South Bank House on Barrow St, Dublin 4.
