Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpening, two American engineers, created Tesla in 2003 in San Carlos, California. Initially known as Tesla Motors, the firm changed its name to Tesla in 2017.
Reason behind the name Tesla:
Nikola
Tesla, a 19th-century inventor best recognised for finding the characteristics
of rotating electromagnetic fields, served as the source of inspiration for the
company's name.
About Tesla:
General
Motor’s in 2003 recall of all ev1 electric vehicles, the company's two founders
founded it because they recognised a huge market opportunity in battery
electric cars' greater fuel economy.
Elon Musk was the first person the founders met when they were looking for venture capital in 2004. He was immediately persuaded by their vision and provided over $30 million in startup capital and served as chairman of the board. Their goal was to create a market that would disprove the conventional wisdom that high performance caused lower fuel economy in automobiles.
The original co-founders of Tesla were Eberhard, Mark Tarpenning, Ian Wright, Elon Musk, and J.B. Straubel. Their goal was to develop an entirely electric sports car and to build a technology-driven company that constantly improved its battery, proprietary motor, and computer software. After the company was founded, Elon Musk became actively involved and took charge of the majority of the company's operations.
Elon Musk led a series of capital raises for the roadster from 2006 to 2008 that included equity partners, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Draper fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn management, and the Bay Area Equity Fund. During that time, he raised about $100 million in private funding, which was crucial for starting the roadster's production. In the middle of 2006 and in 2008, the public saw the first roadster prototypes. The Tesla Roadster's formal manufacturing started, making it the first production car to employ lithium-ion battery cells.
This signaled the start of something special. Tesla had accomplished something no other automaker had previously been able to do. They had successfully engineered and produced an entirely electric vehicle that could be used by modern consumers. This was a feat that earlier automakers had been unable to complete due to the difficulties in developing a powerful enough battery, a cost-effective motor that could sustain highway level speed, and a reasonable lasting travel range. Public expectations were exceeded by the roadster. The first production model, released in 2008, had a range of around 250 miles and peak speeds that could compete with several consumer sports cars.
Despite these outstanding accomplishments, the roadster had some initial difficulties. Since the first-generation roadster cost over $100,000, it was more of a luxury item than a commonplace one. Tesla also encountered the issue of charging time right away.
On a regular household outlet, the first-generation roadster required 24 to 48 hours to recharge. Between 2007 and 2008, Tesla made some aggressive changes to its leadership team. In late 2007, Eberhard resigned as the official CEO of Tesla. During the early Roadster challenges, Tesla experienced leadership changes as well as a great deal of public scrutiny that would place them under the spotlight of the media for years to come. He stayed on staff and served on Tesla's advisory board while being virtually driven out as CEO by the board without any form of debate, it was subsequently revealed. The company's new interim CEO would be early Tesla investor Michael Marks.
Eberhard reportedly said, "There was no discussion, I didn't get to hear what they said, I didn't get to defend myself, and I felt totally stranded." In November 2007, an American technology entrepreneur of israeli descent named Zev Drori would eventually succeed Eberhard as his permanent replacement.
Elon took over a company in October 2008 and fired about 30 employees in an effort to reduce costs and position the company for the launch of the roadster. This aggressive move received negative feedback from the public and investors, but it was necessary to ensure Tesla's survival despite the launch of the roadster in 2009. Elon later dropped the lawsuit the same year. Eberhard had sued Tesla and Elon Musk for libel and slander.
Tesla had significant financial problems. On their balance sheet, they had less than $10 million in cash, which was insufficient for them to deliver the cars that they had already pre-sold. In order to speed up the manufacture of their reasonably priced fuel-efficient electric vehicles, Tesla secured a 465 million dollar loan from the US Department of Energy in early 2010.
The Model S was Tesla's first attempt at entering the mass market; it was an electric family sedan with seating for up to seven people and a base price of $74,990. A large portion of this loan was used to build their first official Tesla factory in fremont, California, as well as to acquire the necessary production engineering and assembly.
Tesla officially went public on the nasdaq at 17 per share on June 29, 2010, raising about 230 million dollars. They were the first American automaker to do so since Ford had their ipo in 1956, despite the model S still having a hefty price tag. This demonstrated Tesla's determination to lower its prices and make its first step into the mainstream consumer market. Their IPO contributed to their public reputation improvement and helped them gain some much-needed financial stability. When the Model S entered full-scale production in June 2012, it was an immediate success and the first electric car to earn the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. By the end of the year, Tesla had stopped making the roadster in order to concentrate on enhancing and extending its lineup of sedans.
Tesla also introduced its first supercharger charging stations in 2012; they were initially six in California and thousands now exist globally. The supercharger stations provided free charging to Tesla owners and charged significantly more quickly than a typical household outlet. Tesla posted its first quarterly profit in its 10-year history in 2013 and fully repaid its 465 million loan from the US Department of Energy. The announcement of their first quarterly profit piqued investor interest, but doubters lurked nearby who questioned Tesla's capacity to sell enough cars to sustain a viable business.
Other automakers' reports of dismal electric vehicle sales and their larger distribution networks both contributed to this pessimism. greater financial balance and abundant resources Tesla launched a European Distribution Center in the Vossenberg Tilburg Industrial Zone in the Netherlands in December 2012. This was their first facility outside the United States. Tesla decided in June 2012 to release both its first SUV, the Model X, which was scheduled to go on sale in late 2015, and its second electric vehicle, the Model S premium sedan.
The facility would be utilised to provide the battery packs for the cars. They announced intentions to establish their first giga factory in 2016 in Story County, Nevada the following year. Tesla has decided to expand into solar energy products for residential usage, which would be utilised for small-scale grid energy storage. Rechargeable lithium-ion battery energy items, including the power wall and the power pack, are their two primary offerings.
The bigger power pack was created for business use, whilst the power wall was built for domestic energy storage. Tesla saw immediate success with this and got orders worth more than $800 million. In order to further integrate its sustainable energy products and expand its customer base, tesla purchased solar panel manufacturer Solar City for 2.6 billion dollars in stock after a week of their initial unveiling in 2016. Although it was later discovered that Solar City was in crippling debt at the time of the acquisition, it still proved to be a valuable deal in order to help accelerate the growth of tesla.
Tesla continued its rapid growth the year after, in 2017, by offering its Model 3 vehicle to the general public at a price far lower than any of their previous models. Tesla also opened up their second giga factory in Buffalo, New York, the same year. This factory would specialise in production of their solar cells, including the assembly of their modules for their solar panels, supercharger equipment, and their solar shingles. The model 3 cost around $37,000, and it was crucial in helping tesla grab a much larger share of not only the ev market, but the mass automobile market overall.
Although their stock price fluctuated, investors flocked to Tesla's stock because of their rapid growth, ability to capture market share, and ability to release new products quickly. However, 2018 would turn out to be a special year for Tesla and Elon Musk from a public relations standpoint. Elon had a busy and contentious year as tesla gained popularity. He was involved in a number of projects for both tesla, spacex and the boring company, which drew criticism from both investors and the media. On August 7, 2018, Elon tweeted about taking tesla private. These tweets did not meet with the approval of the public or investors and resulted in a federal lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Elon continued to be ceo in 2018, appearing on the Joe Rogan podcast and having some much-deserved fun making some flamethrowers with the boring company despite all the perceived public instability in his actions as a ceo. Later that year, Elon and Tesla settled the lawsuit, with the Sec agreeing to pay a 40 million dollar fine. Elon was working hour weeks, and Tesla's market cap surpassed the combined market capitalization of the nine largest car companies. Yes, you read that correctly, combined. It was difficult to deny Tesla's astronomical accomplishments under his leadership and management in such a short period of time.
Tesla was not only disrupting the automotive industry, but completely transforming it, causing other car manufacturers to evolve. Tesla continued to innovate and expand its product line, announcing its disruptive plans for the trucking industry with its tesla semi an all-electric battery-powered semi-truck with an expected lasting travel range of up to 500 miles on a full charge, with production set to begin in mid-2021.
Tesla's cyber truck Although it has an unusual vehicle design, its specifications and capabilities are enough to make other truck manufacturers anxious. With a starting price of $39,000, it is intended to go over 250 miles on a single battery charge, tow up to 7,500 pounds, and accelerate from zero to sixty in 6.5 seconds. All of these exciting future plans, combined with two new giga factories planned for 2021, one in berlin, Germany, and one in Austin, Texas, have helped boost Tesla's stock to historic levels, prompting Tesla to propose a five-for-one stock split in August of 2020.
Prior to the split, Tesla stock was selling at little more than $2,000 a share. The stock split was done to make Tesla stock more accessible to smaller investors. All of these huge successes and market disruptions helped drive Tesla to new heights and Tesla was admitted to the S& P 500 index on December 21, 2020, an absolute game changer for the corporation and an accomplishment for the ages. Looking forward, Tesla shows no indications of slowing down their innovation and to continue their aim of assisting the world's transition to sustainable energy.
Conclusion:
Tesla's net value is $578.5 billion as of November 24, 2022. Tesla, Inc. is the world's most valued Electric Vehicle (EV) firm today.
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