High-tech specialty auto manufacturer Tesla Motors Inc. will invest $47.7 million to locate a new R&D and engineering center in Rochester Hills, Mich. California-based Tesla Motors produces an electric roadster-style car powered by lithium-ion batteries.

The innovative three-phase induction motor can propel the vehicle to a top speed of 130 MPH and accelerate from zero to 60 in about 4 seconds. Tesla Motors is the winner of the Business Journal’s Green Award in this year’s emerging technologies competition, the People’s Choice Award for Best Invention of 2006 and was one of Time magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2006.”

The Michigan EDC approved a Single Business Tax credit valued at $602,000 over three years. The city of Rochester Hills has proposed a package of incentives estimated at $14,500 including a job fair for the company, a three-year abatement of the company’s personal property taxes and business advisory services through Oakland University. In partnership with Oakland County, Automation Alley has also offered a two-year foundation membership valued at $30,000.

“Tesla Motors is excited about this milestone in the growth of our company,” Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard said. “By locating our R&D center near Detroit, we will have access to the great talent pool that exists here in automotive engineering and design. The State of Michigan and Governor Granholm have been very helpful in making this happen. The team we build in this office will be shaping the future of automobiles in the backyard of the city that defined the American automobile industry one century ago.”

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