Electric cars, like rock and roll, are here to stay, and tidings from the U.S. capital this week made it easier for them to gain a further foothold on the economic landscape.
In the forefront of this charge (pardon the pun) is electric wheels whiz Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA), which benefited from a shining example of people power in raising its profile in all 50 states of the Union.
Folks flooded the White House website this week with a petition on Tesla’s behalf that eventually garnered more than 100,000 signatures. It’s a psychologically-important number that means the missive could soon get an official response from the Obama administration.
The gist of the petition was that individual states should not have the authority to prevent Tesla from selling cars directly to consumers (currently, Tesla sells its unique brand of vehicles online -- the way Amazon does books or Apple’s Macbook Pros). The petition touched on another point: that lawmakers were in cahoots with dealerships in their states to prevent the kind of competition Tesla is posing.
Tesla, based in Silicon Valley, lacks a license to sell cars that run on juice on a lot the way Ford or GM or Chrysler or Lexus dealerships sell cars that run on gasoline. That’s because dealership groups banded together to keep Tesla out, forcing it to sell online and ship its vehicles from California.
Tesla has butted heads with dealers associations in New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Minnesota, who challenged the car maker’s refusal to abide by traditional sales models, sidestepping franchise dealerships to sell straight to its customers online, by telephone, or in some states, inside Tesla stores.
Tesla proposed legislation to allow direct sales in Texas, where employees in showroom “galleries” are not allowed to offer test drives, take orders or discuss the price of the Model S, but that bill was shelved in June. Tesla is also trying to get approved for a license in Virginia.
"One particular response the White House could give", according to the site known as venturebeat.com, "would be to suggest a new federal law to make the sale of electric cars legal without a dealership license.
And why not, says the site. "Tesla itself has definitely proven itself as a business. The company is now profitable and enjoying success in the stock market. It also managed to pay back its loans to the government earlier than expected."
It’s just a matter of time before the effects of the petition make themselves felt on Tesla’s stock price. The stock closed the eve of Independence Day at $115.24 U.S., just off from Tuesday’s 52-week intraday high of $121.89 U.S. The 52-week low of $25.52 U.S. was plumbed in early August.
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