Tesla, originally Tesla Motors, was born in 2003 when a group of engineers passionate about electric cars (EVs) wanted to prove to people that they need not be afraid to buy them. They want to develop their own line of cars that are “better, faster and more enjoyable than petrol cars”.
Do what others can’t
One of the main motivations for Tesla to be born was that General Motors (GM) stopped the EV1 program. GM only ran the program for three years, from 1996 to 1999, and produced a limited number of vehicles. They were also never marketed, but were still considered technically successful.
Tesla Motor founders Martin Eberhard (right) and Marc Tarpenning
Tesla Motors is named after Nikola Tesla, the famous inventor of the AC electric motor. According to Business Insider, co-founder Martin Eberhard chose this name when discussing the startup idea with his girlfriend. “Tesla” fits the vision of the new company, he says, giving a strong sense of a completely different direction in electric car development.
On April 23, 2003, Mr. Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning officially registered the domain name Teslamotors.com. In July 2003, Tesla was founded, Mr. Eberhard and Mr. Tarpenning became the CEO and CFO of the startup.
The two used their own money to open Tesla and organize a Serie A funding round to raise more investment money. That’s when Elon Musk showed up. After becoming rich thanks to PayPal, Mr. Musk led Tesla’s Series A funding round, invested $ 6.3 million, was appointed Chairman.
The following year, Tesla signed an agreement with Lotus to help design the chassis and body of the first model, the Roadster. During the 2006 Series B funding round, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page also poured money into Tesla. In July of the same year, the Roadster prototype made its world premiere.
Not long after, Tesla announced its “secret plan”, which was to develop a sports car, use the money from the sale to develop cheaper models, while providing generations of pollution-free electric motors. .
Before Roadster was born in 2008, the two founders left Tesla. A beautiful sports car, equipped with modern battery technology and an all-electric powertrain. Not only is it an incredible achievement for a fledgling company, but it also proves that no one but Tesla can do it. Tesla has produced an electric car with specifications that meet the needs of users, even though the price is beyond the reach of the majority (more than 100,000 USD).
Tesla’s predecessors failed for a variety of reasons, one of which was not being able to produce enough battery power for daily driving, or a cost-effective engine that could fit inside a vehicle and achieve high speeds.
Roadster does it all. The original Roadster models could run for 402km on a single charge and the speed was similar to other sports cars. It uses a lithium-ion battery common in many electrical devices, which can be charged with a standard wall charger.
However, Tesla also encountered some problems. The Roadster needs 24 to 48 hours to charge the battery using a standard household outlet. If you want to challenge traditional gasoline cars, the charging speed needs to be significantly reduced. This is an urgent problem Tesla must solve in the years to come. Currently, Tesla introduces the V3 Supercharging charger, charging 5 minutes is enough to travel more than 120km, but still not fast enough. With 5 minutes of refueling, gasoline cars can cover much longer distances.
Elon Musk becomes Tesla boss
Tesla receives many orders, some customers are willing to spend more to top the list of deliveries. Everything seemed to be going in the right direction, but the company had financial problems.
In October 2008, Mr. Musk took over the CEO position, laying off 25% of the staff. The change in the senior ranks did not go smoothly when a year later, founders Eberhard and Tarpenning filed a lawsuit against Mr. Musk and the old company, alleging being forced out of Tesla by Mr. Musk. The lawsuit is dismissed but Tesla is in danger. They have only $10 million in cash, which is not enough to complete and deliver the car to the customer.
Daimler car group rescued Tesla in May 2009 when buying a 10% stake for $ 50 million, helping Tesla escape the disaster of doom. Not long after, Tesla borrowed $465 million from the US Department of Energy, acquiring the capital it needed to survive in the long run. They moved their headquarters to Palo Alto.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
A major event in Tesla’s history was the successful IPO in June 2010, raising $226 million. From here, the company designed the world’s first all-electric sedan, the Model S. The Model S sets all the standards for electric vehicles, not only achieving the longest range, but also being able to update the software. wire, improved automatic performance and a record-fast 0 to 60 mph time (2.28 seconds).
With a selling price of more than $75,000, the Model S is the next step in Tesla’s “secret plan”. The car was manufactured in 2012 and received many compliments, as well as countless awards. Tesla stopped making Roadsters to focus on new sedans. 2012 also saw the introduction of the “Supercharger” charging station, which only takes 5 minutes to charge and run for 120km.
Tesla recorded first-quarter profit in 2013, announcing the construction of a massive Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada the following year. This is the main electric vehicle battery production base and the core of the company’s business model. Tesla also invests in sustainable energy, developing many products such as Powerwall, Powerpack, Solar Roof with the hope of helping households and businesses generate their own electricity for use.
In 2015, Tesla added a new model, the Model X. The company began developing a semi-autonomous driving system, on a mission to turn Tesla cars into fully self-driving cars. Tesla Model 3 introduced in 2016, still in “secret plan”. This is a cheaper model, sold in 2017.
Tesla Motors also changed its name to Tesla, showing a transformation, not just encapsulating in car production. In 2018, Tesla fell short of some financial expectations, prompting investors to sell off the stock, dropping its value by 5%, or more than $10 billion. The Model 3 production was also slower than Musk’s expectations, delivering less than 2,500 vehicles, contradicting his claim to produce 5,000 vehicles a week.
In August of the same year, Mr. Musk faced controversy when he tweeted about taking Tesla private when the stock hit $420, rattling the market. The US Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation, Mr. Musk was accused of giving misleading information to inflate the company’s stock. In the end, Tesla had to pay a fine of $ 20 million, Mr. Musk resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Currently, Tesla’s product portfolio includes the Tesla Semi truck and Model Y SUV. Tesla also introduced the idea of the bulletproof super pickup Cybertruck, attracting great attention thanks to its futuristic design. The company started construction of Gigafactory 4 in Germany from 2020, with an expected capacity of half a million vehicles per year.
Last year, Tesla hit a record when it sold 499,550 vehicles. After a rough first few years, the company now dominates the electric vehicle market with an 80% share in the US and a quarter of the global market. The company is constantly expanding its factories as well as strengthening its network of charging stations around the world.
Will Tesla be able to fulfill its grand ambitions? Only time can tell.