Daimler takes 10-percent stake in Tesla Motors

San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla Motors said today it sold an equity stake worth nearly 10 percent to Germany's Daimler (NYSE: DAI).

Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed, but the electric carmaker said the partnership is expected to help it bring its Model S sedan to production (see Tesla electric-sedan photos leaked). Tesla is already selling its $109,000 Roadster in Europe, Canada and the U.S. (see Tesla Motors on an upswing?).

Tesla signed a deal in January to supply the lithium-ion battery pack and chargers for the first 1,000 of Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz's electric Smart cars (see Berlin to charge up Smart cars).

The equity investment is expected to allow the companies to partner on further development of battery systems, electric drive systems, and new vehicles. Tesla also plans to take advantage of Daimler's newest technologies.

"Among others, the lithium-ion pouch-cell battery developed by Daimler and especially designed for automotive applications is of interest to us," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a news release. "We are looking forward to a strategic cooperation in a number of areas, including leveraging Daimler's engineering, production and supply chain expertise. This will accelerate bringing our Tesla Model S to production."

Tesla is awaiting word on a $350 million loan application to the Department of Energy that would allow the electric carmaker to build the Model S sedan, which is expected to cost $57,400. Tesla scrapped plans to build the factory on undeveloped land in San Jose because it would not qualify for the DOE funds (see Tesla CEO says carmaker is bouncing back and Tesla to build factory, new HQ in San Jose). 

Shares of Daimler were up 1.29 percent to $35.44 in mid-afternoon trading.

In March, Daimler sold $2.7 billion of newly offered shares to Aabar Investments, the fund of the Abu Dhabi government, in order to fund the development of electric vehicles and composite materials. The sale makes Aabar Daimler’s largest shareholder with 9.1 percent (see Early-stage tech dominates week's cleantech deals).

Daimler also has its hand in fuel cell technology for vehicles. In the first quarter of 2008, Daimler teamed up with Ford Motor (NYSE: F) to buy the automotive division of fuel cell developer Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq: BLDP) for $96.8 million to (see Ballard selling auto fuel cell business to Daimler, Ford).

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