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Formerly
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Tesla Motors, Inc.
(2003–2017)
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Founded
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July 1, 2003; 15 years ago
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Founders
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Martin Eberhard
Marc Tarpenning
Elon Musk
J. B. Straubel
Ian Wright
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Key People
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Robyn Denholm (Chairman)
Elon Musk (CEO)
J. B. Straubel (CTO)
Zach Kirkhorn (CFO)
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Owner
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Elon Musk (21.9%)
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No. of Employees
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45,000 (2018)
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Tesla, Inc. is an automotive and Energy Company based in Palo Alto, California. Tesla manufactures of electric car and solar panel.
Engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla in July 2003, under the name of Tesla Motors.The company's name was derived from physicist Nikola Tesla. In early Series A funding, Tesla Motors was joined by Elon Musk, J. B. Straubel and Ian Wright, all of whom are retroactively allowed to call themselves co-founders of the company.
After 10 years in the market, Tesla ranked as the world's best selling plug-in passenger car manufacturer in 2018, both as a brand and by automotive group, with 245,240 units delivered and a market share of 12% of the plug-in segment sales. Tesla vehicle sales in the U.S. increased by 280% from 48,000 in 2017 to 182,400 in 2018, and globally were up by 138% from 2017.
History of Tesla
Tesla Motors was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning who financed the company until the Series A round of funding. The founders were influenced to start the company after GM recalled all its EV1 electric cars in 2003 and then destroyed them. Elon Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004, joining Tesla's board of directors as its chairman. Tesla's primary goal was to commercialize electric vehicles, starting with a premium sports car aimed at early adopters and then moving into more mainstream vehicles, including sedans and affordable compacts.
Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design at a detailed level. In addition to his daily operational roles, Musk was the controlling investor in Tesla from the first financing round, funding the large majority of the Series A capital investment round of US$7.5 million with personal funds. Musk later led Tesla Motors' Series B, US$13 million, and co-led the third, US$40 million round in May 2006. Tesla's third round included investment from prominent entrepreneurs including Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, former eBay President Jeff Skoll, Hyatt heir Nick Pritzker and added the VC firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn Management and The Bay Area Equity Fund managed by JPMorgan Chase. The fourth round in May 2007 added another US$45 million and brought the total investments to over US$105 million through private financing.
Vehicle models
Model S
Model S has three configurations: the Model S, the Model S Extended Range, and the Model S Performance with EPA ranges of 310 miles (500 km), 335 miles (539 km), and 315 miles (507 km) respectively.
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| Tesla Model S Front |
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| Tesla Model S Interior |
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| Tesla Model S Rear View |
Model X
The Tesla Model X is a mid-size crossover SUV with a lightweight aluminum body. Model X is offered in 5-, 6- and 7-passenger configurations. Notably, the passenger doors are articulating "falcon-wing" designs that open vertically.
Model 3
The Model 3 (originally stylized as "☰") is Tesla's third-generation car.The car was originally intended to be called the Model E, but after a lawsuit from Ford that holds the trademark on "Model E", Musk announced on July 16, 2014 that the car would be called "Model 3" instead. The standard Model 3 is expected to deliver an EPA-rated all-electric range of 220 miles (350 km), while the long range model delivers 310 miles (500 km).
2020 Roadster
Through a surprise reveal at the end of the event that introduced the Semi on November 16, 2017, Tesla unveiled the 2020 Roadster. Musk said that the new model will have a range of 620 miles (1,000 km) on the 200 kWh battery pack and will achieve 0–60 mph in 1.9 seconds; it also will achieve 0–100 mph in 4.2 seconds, and the top speed will be over 250 mph (400 km/h). The vehicle will have three electric motors allowing for all-wheel drive, and torque vectoring during cornering.
Tesla Semi
The Tesla Semi is an all-electric Class 8 semi-trailer truck first mentioned in the 2016 Tesla Master plan. Musk confirmed that the range would be 500 miles (800 km) and that the zero to 60 mph time would be 5 seconds versus 15 seconds for a similar truck with a diesel engine. The Semi will be powered by four electric motors of the type used in the Tesla Model 3 and will include an extensive set of hardware sensors to enable it to stay in its own lane, a safe distance away from other vehicles, and later, when software and regulatory conditions allow, provide self-driving car operation on highways. Musk also announced that the company would be involved in installing a solar-powered global network of the Tesla Megacharger devices to make the Semi more attractive to potential long-haul customers. A 30-minute charge would provide 400 miles (640 km) of range.
Model Y
In October 2015, Musk described a future "Model Y" that would be a full-sized SUV aimed for families. Tesla had trademarked the name "Model Y" in 2013.
In May 2018, Musk said that the Model Y will be built on a platform that shares many components with the Model 3, and that the Model Y will be in production at the earliest in early 2020.
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