Background

Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning with the purpose to improve electric vehicles. Elon Musk did not join the company until 2004 when he invested $30 million and became the chairman of its Board of Directors.

Then, the first prototype was released in 2006 with the Tesla Roadster entering production in 2008. This Roadster was the first entirely electric car with specifications that would meet customer needs, while other companies had struggled to create a powerful enough battery, Tesla broke that barrier in the world of electric cars.

In 2007 Eberhard resigned as CEO and president of technology and joined the advisory board of the company. It was announced in 2008 that he had left the company, though he remained a shareholder. Tarpenning, who was vice president of electrical engineering, supervising the development of electronic and software systems for the Roadster, also left the company in 2008. Musk took over as CEO. In 2012 Tesla stopped production of the Roadster to concentrate on its new Model S sedan, which had three different battery options giving a range of 235 or 300 miles and carried its battery system in the back of the car unlike the Roadster.

Starting the project in 2012, Tesla built charging stations called Superchargers in the United States and Europe designed for charging batteries quickly and at no extra cost to Tesla owners. Later versions of those stations also had the capability of complete replacement of the Model S battery pack. Now these Superchargers are located all over the US and Europe. The company also branched out into solar energy products. A line of batteries to store electric power from solar energy for use in homes and businesses was unveiled in 2015. Tesla bought the solar panel company SolarCity in 2016 and offered rooftop solar panels, a solar roof with energy-generating tiles, and a large battery called the Powerwall to store the power generated for use when the sun was not shining or as a backup in case of a power outage.

Tesla Motors also introduced a semi-autonomous driving system called Autopilot in 2014.

Today, Tesla builds not only all electric vehicles but also significantly contributes to the conversion to clean energy.