To fund electric vehicles, Daimler sells $2.7b of shares to Abu Dhabi gov't

Daimler is casting a wide net to make progress on the 10,000 electric vehicles it wants to sell by 2012. The company partners with Evonik for the development and manufacturing of automotive lithium ion batteries and is looking for another partner to join that project. Daimler is also working with Tesla Motors on the smart ed. The latest from the German company is the sale of $2.7 billion worth of shares the Abu Dhabi government in order to fund electric vehicles an develop composite materials to use in vehicles. Aabar Investment, the government's fund, made the purchase, according to the New York Times.
It shouldn't be surprising that Abu Dhavi is interested in electric cars. Companies there have invested in Lotus and the Dubai-based Al Yousuf Group has put money into Zap. Al Yousuf has also invested in Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.

[Source: New York Times]