Today started China’s (Shanghai) two day International Technology Fair in which Tesla (TSLA, quote) will be show casing its Model S sedan along with free test drives. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, was in Beijing and Shanghai finishing up his first to trip China (FXI, quote).
Mr. Musk has been in China to oversee the delivery of 12 Tesla Model S and two charging station installations.
Reports of the visit indicate the reaction was mixed. China consumers have been anxious for the arrival of Tesla’s all electric vehicles, but, yet again, Tesla finds itself in a potential legal battle.
The issue is that Tesla currently only delivers pre-order vehicles to the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, thus delaying deliveries of pre-orders outside of those cities.
Tesla seems to have a weak reason for not delivering outside of Shanghai and Beijing, citing charging stations haven’t been installed in other cities yet. Home charging stations would be an easy fix, frustrating some Chinese who are threatening to sue over the delay.
Chinese solar equipment maker Hanergy (HKG:0566) has spiked higher during the installation of the charging stations when it was revealed that the charging stations are running Hanergy’s solar equipment to chart the Tesla vehicles.
While Mr. Musk was overseeing the delivery of the first Teslas, he commented that Tesla wants to make a large investment in China, including a network of charging stations across additional cities.