Tesla Looking to Raise at Least $178 Million from IPO;

Tesla Motors Inc., a North American electric car manufacturer based out of Palo Alto, Calif., will be holding an initial public stock offering on June 29. Tesla hopes that buyers will purchase at least $178 million of stock. Automakers such as Nissan and GM, who are releasing the Leaf and Volt respectively have been interested in the electric vehicle car market. The Volt will be found later on this year at a North Carolina Chevrolet Dealer.

Tesla received a $465 million dollar interest bearing loan from the United States government in June of 2009, and it has also roused the attention of Toyota who has recently announced a partnership with Tesla with undisclosed implications. Preowned Toyota models can be browsed at a Jersey City used cars dealership.

Tesla intends on selling 11.1 million shares of stock priced anywhere from $14 to $16 dollars per share. The company will list on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the acronym TSLA. Although Tesla may end up raising their target amount of money, the current slowed state of the stock market will likely have some implications on the amount of stock that Tesla ends up selling at the IPO.

The company has not had a profitable year since its inception, but this should not be mistaken for failure, as a large amount of the money Tesla has obtained from the sale of the Tesla Roadster and grants and loans has gone towards advanced electric battery research and development.

Tesla intends on spending the money it raises from the IPO on new factories and potential acquisitions.

The money that Tesla received from the United States government was not a part of a bailout package but was instead money that was set aside in a U.S. Department of Energy program under the Bush administration that was intended for research on alternative fuel sources to reduce American dependency on foreign oil.