Barcelona, electric vehicle capital of Spain, to be home to Tesla business headquarters

• The center will distribute and sell vehicles and power-storage systems
• Catalonia has the highest percentage of electric vehicles in Spain 

US luxury electric car manufacturer Tesla has chosen Barcelona for its Spanish business headquarters, where the company called Tesla Spain will act as a subsidiary of the parent company Tesla International BV.

The California-based company will import, distributeand sell electric vehicles and power-storage systems, including Powerwall batteries for domestic use and consumption of renewable energy, as well as parts, accessories and other products associated with the sector.

For Tesla, Catalonia plays a strategic role in the Mediterranean region and in Europe. In this regard, although all Tesla models can be recharged using conventional plugs, Tesla has begun installing its own superchargers. The company currently has five superchargers in Spain, four of which are located in Catalonia (Tarragona, Girona, Lleida and on the N-340, in the Ebro River Delta).

Tesla’s landing in Barcelona coincides with that of Amazon. The arrival of multinational corporations in Catalonia is due to the country’s privileged location –strategic for logistics and distribution– and to the confidence foreign private capital has in the region.

Catalonia has the highest percentage of electric cars of any community in Spain 
A study by T&E, the European Federation for Transport and Environment, shows that although only 0.2% of all electric cars in Europe are sold in Spain, sales over the first nine months of this year were higher than those in 2015. The Community of Madrid and Catalonia make up nearly 70% of all sales in the country. Specifically, 39.52% are sold in Madrid and 28.65% in Catalonia, of a total of 3,284 countrywide. These figures give Catalonia the highest proportion of electric vehicles to conventional ones. The 941 units made up 0.71% of all vehicles registered between January and September, higher than the proportion in the Community of Madrid, at 0.45%, and double the Spanish average of 0.38%.