The stock price of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) reached a record high after the electric car manufacturer signed an agreement with China United Network also known as China Unicom to build 400 charging stations.
The shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded as much as $272 per share and eventually closed at $269.70 per share today. This is the highest closing price since Tesla went public in June 2010.
Details of the agreement
According to Peggy Yang, the spokesperson of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) the charging stations will be built at the outlets of China Telecom in 120 cities. The two companies also agreed to build 20 rapid-charging stations.
The electric car manufacturer agreed to supply the equipment for the charging stations while China Unicom will provide the locations. “The deal represents our biggest investment so far in charging facilities in China,” said Yang. She did not disclose the cost of the investment.
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) started selling its Model S electric vehicles in China on April. The company also entered into agreement with Soho China and China Yangtai Holdings to establish charging stations at their properties around the country.
The agreement between Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and China Unicom would help address the limited number of charging stations in China, which is considered one of the major obstacles for it become successful in the country.
The government of China previously announced its plan to provide as much as 100 billion yuan or $16 billion to increase the charging facilities in the country as part of its effort to encourage its citizen to purchase electric cars.
Tesla resolved trademark issue in China
Early this month, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) completely and amicably resolved a trademark issue, which was also another hurdle towards its expansion in China.
In 2006, Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng registered the Tesla trademark in English and Chinese language in Gungdong province. Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) said Zhan finally “agreed to have the Chinese authorities complete the process of canceling the Tesla trademarks that he had registered or applied for, at no cost to Tesla.” He also agreed to transfer certain domain names such as tesla.cn and teslamotors.cn to the electric car manufacturers.
