Tesla to expand to Ireland with new store and Superchargers in 2017

Ireland, with Portugal and Spain, is among the last few countries in Western Europe where Tesla is still not officially selling its vehicles and where it has no retail presence, but that’s about to change. Tesla officials have confirmed being in the final stages of preparation for an expansion in Ireland in 2017.

With already planned expansions in Portugal and Spain, Tesla will have a presence in every country in Western Europe after entering the Irish market in 2017.

The expansion has been slightly delayed since earlier this year CEO Elon Musk said it would happen by the end of the year, but now Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen, Tesla Motors’ director of Nordic sales, told The Irish Times that the automaker was “pretty far into the process” of entering the Irish market and that it should happen next year.

Tesla incorporated an Irish entity, Tesla Motors Ireland Ltd, in August and Bardenfleth-Hansen confirmed that Ireland will have a Tesla store and Superchargers in 2017.

After talking with the Tesla director, The Irish Times also reported that Dublin is a likely location the store and Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast, for the Superchargers. The Tesla official also said that the location will more likely than not be a ‘Tesla Service-plus’, which houses both a showroom and service center:

“probably more likely – but still to be confirmed – would be what we call a Service-plus outlet. This is a more traditional dealership set up with a service location and a retail location in the same spot.”

There are already a few Tesla vehicles in Ireland, but they were imported by the owners and not directly by Tesla. The country offers up to €5,000 in tax relief at the purchase of an electric vehicle, which is likely to help sales in the market.

Alongside its electric vehicle business, Tesla Energy already entered the Irish market last year when announcing a partnership with Gaelectric, a developer and operator of renewable energy projects, to develop a 1 MW utility-scale energy storage demonstration project powered by Tesla’s Powerpacks.