Tesla Amsterdam Zuid-Oost Netherlands Showroom, Service Center and European Headquarters

On the Amsterdam city outskirts is another Tesla location.  This one combines a showroom, huge service Center and the Tesla European headquarters.  All support calls in Europe come here and staff is available in all supported languages.

I thought it was interesting that Tesla had a big "we're hiring" sign outside the office.

Tesla Amsterdam Netherlands Showroom

I walked to the Tesla showroom, of course.  It's in a tiny storefront in an upscale part of town.  The young man working there said electric cars are really coming in the Netherlands, nearly every street has at least one charging station so the infrastructure is there and ready for more cars.

New Electric Amsterdam Netherlands

Continuing my trip, I made a stop in Amsterdam and visit Anne Kloppenborg and his New Electric company, building electric cars and boats.

I made my way to Anne's workshop which is tucked in behind some industrial buildings.  I walked into the right shop and saw Ray and Celso and Anne.

A customer Volvo was up on the hoist being converted for the CEO of an electric car charger station company.  The Delta boat that didn't finish the English Channel crossing was in pieces, apparently the contactor failed from heat thrown off by the fuse that was running near its limit.  3/4 of the way across the English Channel is a tough place to have an electrical glitch!  A simple redesign of that part of the circuit should avoid concentrating the heat, with a next try scheduled for December.  The 818 project is in process but delayed by paying customer work (which is always good to have!)  There was a small cabin boat out the back in the canal being converted.

Trying to help out a bit, I built up a parallel pack of 10 CALB CA100 batteries and Celso initiated the bottom balancing process.  I was careful not to drop the wrench across the battery terminals...

Anne had a meeting with an electric boat motor company at a trade show in town so we went in.  I got a visitor badge and we found the booth.  While Anne talked with them, I explored the next few aisles of products.

Later in the week we walked down to the two canal boats that Anne had installed electric motors and batteries into.  These are new and he did the installation in conjunction with the boat manufacturer.  The battery packs hold 180 KWH, this is a monster, as much as two Teslas, folks!  They have between 2000 and 3000 hours of service in only 8 months and they're still purring along.

Tesla Copenhagen Denmark Showroom and Electric Bicycles

Continuing my trip I tracked down the Tesla showroom in Copenhagen.  This is a very dense city with small streets and the showroom was tiny but in a high-end shopping area.  They did have just enough room for a rolling chassis and a production 90D model running the brand-new AutoPilot software update.  I spotted 4 other Teslas around town.  Due to a change in government, the tax-free status of electric cars is going away soon and will now be subject to the 200% tax levied on all cars.  Maybe tax free is too much of a break but a little social engineering always helps to move society towards a zero-emission, renewable energy future.

We walked outside and down a block to a rack of electric bicycles!  Woo hoo!  Simon entered his account information on the touch screen and away we went.  It has 3 speeds and uses a pedal-assist method.  You start pedalling and the motor turns on and gives you a strong assist, you just need to keep gently pedalling.  If you stop, you get a nice regen.  We rode through the city over to a canal with a sightseeing boat and checked the bikes into another rack.  Cost for the ride was DK25 or about $4.

As we walked away from the bike rack, I spotted a VW plugged into an electric charging station, and a guy with professional camera equipment taking pictures.  He said the car was on sale in Sweden now and would come here next March, so he was taking pictures for the brochure to be used here.

Tesla Birmingham England Showroom and Service Center

Continuing on my trip, I was visiting a friend near Birmingham England when I realized that there is a Tesla location nearby, so off we went.

It's quite a large location near the city center.  I took some pictures and talked with a young woman who was just recently hired.  I walked out into the back parking lot to look at the cars waiting to be delivered and was politely chased out, turns out I can't go back there, sorry!

Tesla Sarasota Florida Showroom

I drove over to the west coast of Florida to visit my friend from way back in High School and visit the Tesla Sarasota showroom.  Like two others I've visited here, it's in a shopping mall.

For a Monday, there were a lot of people in the mall and a steady stream of potential customers coming in and looking at the chassis and assembled car.

Sadly, no pictures.  I'm pretty sure at this point my camera is deleting pictures behind my back...

Tesla Tampa Florida Showroom and Service Center

Continuing my trip, I visited the Tampa showroom and service center.  Despite the hints on the Tesla web page, this location is very hard to find.  It's in a complex of one-story professional and light industrial offices.

Once inside though I was happy to meet with Agnes, a transplanted Scot who talked with me for a long time about her showroom, service center and Tesla in Florida.  You can just barely see the service center through the glass doors.

Tesla Miami Dadeland Florida Showroom

The end of the long day brought us to the Miami Dadeland Tesla showroom.  The showroom in Miami beach I went to last year is no more, it was getting more tourists than folks actually in the market for the car, so this site was opened.

As with the Boca Raton showroom, this one is in a mall.  There were less people in the mall here this afternoon for some reason.

Sorry, again no pictures.

Tesla Dania Beach Florida Showroom and Service Center

We then drove south to the Dania Beach showroom & service center which is just a little bit north of Fort Lauderdale.

There we met Franklin, a very enthusiastic young man!  He invited us for a test drive in a Ludicrous mode car, which has just been released and I was not going to pass up on this opportunity.  We did 3 passes up and down the service road next to the airport runway.  The acceleration is mind-blowing.  I didn't have the courage to keep my foot on the floor until the third run.  Big thanks to Franklin and best of luck to him in the future.

With my body buzzing with adrenaline, I completely forgot to get any pictures!

Tesla Boca Raton Florida Showroom

Continuing south, we stopped in at the Town Center mall in Boca Raton, home of the Tesla showroom.  There were so many people walking into the store that I only had time for a brief chat with Dan.  Shopping malls are a good way to get eyes on the car and plant a seed in people's minds.

Charging stations in the mall parking lot.