![The first Tesla store is finally open in EV-loving Vermont [update]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Tesla-South-Burlington-.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
The first Tesla store is finally open in EV-loving Vermont [update]
New Englanders, rejoice – at last, Vermont’s first Tesla store is now open in South Burlington.
IT’S HEEEEEERRRREEEE!
January 26: The Vermont Tesla store is so not going to open in the latter half of January, as we initially expected. One of our readers (thanks, Doug!) went past the store today and spoke to a supervisor, who said there was still a lot of work to do and that the store wouldn’t open until March 1 at the earliest. He took a photo of the store’s interior and shared it with us:
Yeah, that is nowhere near being ready for launch in four days, lol.
Vermont’s first (and only) Tesla store
December 22: Up until now, Vermont’s approximately 3,000 Tesla drivers have had to travel to Latham, New York, for service and repairs. If you wanted to buy or lease a new Tesla, you’d have to go all the way to New Jersey to pick it up – if you wanted to order to avoid the hefty delivery charge. Both Tesla stores are a few hours’ drive each way from Vermont. (Tesla also offers mobile service to Vermont residents, but the traveling technicians can’t provide the same full service as in the shop.)
But now it’s official: A former Hannaford Supermarket now has a large Tesla sign across the front. The South Burlington store is expected to open in the latter half of January.
Vermont state law was revised in 2021 to allow direct sales of EVs to customers, and South Burlington made a zoning change to allow car sales at the former supermarket site.
Tesla just opened a store at Mohegan Sun, a casino and resort in Connecticut. The move was made because the Mohegan Tribe owns the land, which serves as a workaround because the state bans direct car sales by car makers. (The state does, however, allow direct leasing.)
There aren’t any Tesla stores in New Hampshire, so the state’s residents will also benefit from this development.
Electrek’s Take
This is extremely welcome news for a lot of people (not just me, lol). The state has a small population, but per capita, it’s in the top 5 in the country for EV drivers. Drive Electric Vermont reported in July that there were 10,022 plug-in electric vehicles registered in Vermont – a 34% jump over 2022.
And Chittenden County, where South Burlington is, has the highest rate of EV ownership, with about 1 EV for every 47 people.
Having a Tesla store in the state will only boost those numbers, as it will attract new buyers. And, of course, there are those of us who are cheering its arrival because we won’t have to drive out of state anymore.
Read more: I just bought my very first Tesla. Here’s what happened
Photo: Todd R. Lockwood/New England Electric Auto Association Group
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LiveWire, the electric motorcycle brand spun out of Harley-Davidson, has just announced its latest electric motorcycle model. The new LiveWire S2 Alpanista is built on the same platform as the brand’s last two models, leveraging the Arrow platform as a versatile foundation for several diverse bikes.
The Arrow platform first received its debut with the LiveWire S2 Del Mar, which was then followed by the S2 Mulholland.
LiveWire announced that a high-performance electric maxi-scooter would be produced on the Arrow platform, but not before the company rolled out the S2 Alpinista. “The Alpinista is LiveWire’s first sport standard,” explained the company, “equipped with 17” wheels and tires, blending the best of street, sport, and hyper-tourer characteristics.”
The recently unveiled S2 Alpinista is mechanically quite similar to the two previous models sharing the platform. The 10.5 kWh battery that serves as the main structure of the bike will offer a maximum range of 120 miles (193 km) per charge under city riding conditions. It can be recharged with a Level 2 charger from 20-80% in just 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The 433 lb (196 kg) bike can achieve a 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) time of just 3.0 seconds, thanks to its powerful 63 kW (84 hp) motor. The S2 Alpinista can also reach an electronically limited top speed of 99 mph (159 km/h).
Priced at US $15,999 and already available at LiveWire dealerships in North America and Europe, the S2 Alpinista officially becomes the most affordable LiveWire electric motorcycle available to date, undercutting the $16,249 S2 Del Mar electric street tracker and the $16,499 Mulholland electric sport cruiser.
“Alpinista reimagines the S2 by combining the urban agility of a supermoto with the do-it-all nature of a touring bike, creating a practical and thrilling sport standard,” explained the brand.
The smaller 17″ wheels help reduce the seat height of the bike, and combined with the Dunlop Roadsmart IV tires, the street-optimized bike is ideal for “both daily commutes and spirited rides through winding roads.”
The S2 Alpinista comes with 6-axis IMU from Bosch providing cornering-enhanced antilock braking and cornering-enhanced traction control systems, in addition to four preset ride modes and two custom modes.
Now the third model launched on the Arrow platform, the S2 Alpanista underscores the versatility of LiveWire’s workhorse. The approach was intended to allow the e-motorcycle offshoot to quickly innovate with multiple styles of motorcycles all sharing key structural and drivetrain components. The move has largely been seen as an engineering success, with three models hitting the road in under three years. However, sales have yet to reach targets set by LiveWire as the more premium electric motorcycle industry has experienced a rocky few years.
As a LiveWire S2 Del Mar owner myself, I can attest to both the performance and enjoyable experience of bikes built on the platform, though I do find myself in a somewhat smaller community than LiveWire had likely hoped for. With the backing of its powerful older brother H-D, which retains a controlling stake in the company, LiveWire has enjoyed the relative freedom to cruise for its first few years and focus on motorcycle development and rollouts, with profitability hopefully coming over the horizon in due time.
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