The history of Tesla motors began when the company was founded in July 2003 in San Carlos, California. The duos that began the company were Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard. Later, Ian Wright, JB Straubel, and Elon Musk joined Tesla. These five individuals are considered to be the main founders of Tesla Motors.
Tesla Motors was named after Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-American electrical engineer, and physicist. He was the inventor of the alternating current or AC induction motor back in 1888. Without his work, we won’t be able to enjoy the conveniences of having energy in our homes. Apart from that, he also invented electric motors, lasers, remote controls and many others.
The goal of the Tesla Motors is to commercialize and make electric vehicles more efficient and powerful. They even began by working on a premium sports car. After that, the company intends to advance and work on mainstream vehicles as well, making electric vehicles more available to the market.
Elon Musk became the Chairman of the Board and invested $7.5 million in the company. By February 2005, $13 million was added to the company’s investment as they were developing the Tesla Roadster. By 2007, the company, being led by Musk, was able to raise $40 million.
By July 11, 2005, the company was able to sign a contract with Lotus Company. This is to manufacture a complete car without the powertrain as a prototype for Tesla Roadster. By the end of 2007, the company had reached bankruptcy and needed a new leader. Ze’eev Drori led the company in less than a year. Under his leadership, around 10% of the employees were laid off. However, the company grew its profit.
Then came October 2008, the Elon Musk era began and he invested $70 million of his own money to the company. Between 2008 and 2015, Tesla sold Roadster models; a total of 2,250 units. However, the company was having hard time meeting orders and deliveries.
Model S was then introduced to the market on June 30, 2008. It’s the car that Tesla became known for. Its starting price of $50,000 made the car known as an affordable family sedan. A partnership with Daimler AG increased 10% equity stake in the company. Then by June 2009, made a loan of $465 million from the United States Department of Energy.
On June 29, 2010, the company gained $226 million of its initial public offering as the first American car company that went public since Ford (1956). Then comes the Model X, as the company’s SUV type. Its gullwing-type door is the main feature of the unit.
Furthermore, as 2012 came, the company began to build a small network of electric car charging stations in California. It is known as Superchargers stations, which started with only six stations. It grew to over 200 worldwide.
Unexpectedly, three Model S sedans were reported to catch fire. The company promptly responded to the issue and reassured the safety of their vehicle. However, these incidents still affected the company’s stock price, dropping to more than 20%.
Model 3 car unit was introduced in the middle of 2014. Its estimated price was under $35,000. In January 2015 the Dual Motor was introduced in the market, the 85D, Model S 60D, and P85D.
The biggest challenge the company faced was in March 2014 when almost half of the United States were not allowed to sell cars directly to the customer but only through third-party dealers. Tesla Motors fought this, and it was overturned after a year.
By April 2014, Tesla launched a new product and extended its business beyond cars. The first Tesla Energy product is called the Powerwall Home Battery. It’s a battery system for storage of solar energy at home. (Read our best solar battery review if you are interested in).
By day, the solar panels will produce energy more than needed by the household. Its function is to store the excess solar energy to be used at a later time when needed or in demand. Using the Tesla app, the client has full access to the battery system.
It can store 7 kWh of the daily cycle. It has nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry and is reusable for 5,000 times before it expires. It is connected using DC to DC converter that is placed in the home’s current solar panel and DC to AC inverter.
This is an exciting time for many households as technologies such as the Powerwall from Tesla becomes all the more available and affordable. The history of Tesla Motors continues to blossom and flourish through its many technological developments.
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