Tesla Company is a multinational company based in Austin city, Texas State, in the country of USA. It operates the automotive and clean energy industries. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles, including electric cars and trucks.
Tesla also produces battery energy storage for use on both the home and grid level. In addition, Tesla produces solar panels and solar roof tiles.
Tesla is considered as one of the most valuable companies globally. It is projected that by 2022, it will be the most valuable automaker in the world. In 2021, Tesla was the largest seller of battery electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles globally. The company holds a market share of 21% of the battery-electric market. Also, it holds market share 14% of the plug-in market, which includes plug-in hybrids.
Elon Musk has served as CEO since 2008. Tesla’s purpose, according to Elon Musk, is to speed up the transition to sustainable transportation, electric vehicles and solar-generated energy. Tesla started production of its first car model, the Roadster sports car, in 2009.The first car model produced by Tesla was the Roadster sports car, which went into production in 2009.
Tesla Inc. Company has total sales of 3 million cars by August 2022. In October 2021, Tesla’s market capitalization reached $1 trillion. This made it the highest market capitalization in U.S history. It was the 6th company to achieve this milestone.
Tesla Company has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and government scrutiny. There has been journalistic criticism and public controversy surrounding CEO Elon Musk’s statements and actions.
Tesla Company has faced criticism for creative accounting. They have also faced criticism for whistleblower retaliation. There have been allegations of worker rights violations. The company has also faced unresolved and dangerous technical issues with its products.
Tesla Inc. Company Tesla Motors, Inc. was founded by Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpening on July 1 in the year 2003. Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpening had served as the CEO and the CFO respectively.
An American inventor, Martin Eberhard, said he wants to build a “car maker that is a technology company.” He was planned to do this by focusing on core technologies such as “battery, computer software and a proprietary motor.”
Tesla Company had raised $7.5 million in Series a funding in February 2004. This included $6.5 million from Elon Musk. Musk had received $100 million by selling his interest in PayPal 2 years earlier.
In 2004, Elon Musk became chairman of the board of directors and Tesla’s largest shareholder. American businessman “J. B. Straubel” joined Tesla as Chief Technical Officer in May 2004. Elon Musk played an active role in the company. He was closely involved in the design of the Tesla Roadster product.
But, Elon Musk was not deeply involved in day-to-day business operations. The company’s strategy is to begin with a premium sports car. They want expand into more mainstream vehicles, such as “sedans and affordable compact”.
In February 2006, Elon Musk led Tesla’s Series B venture capital funding round. The funding round was $13 million. Waller Equity Partners was part of the funding team.
In this round included investments from entrepreneurs also. Prominent entrepreneurs such as Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page invested in this round. Former eBay president Jeff Scholl also invested in this round.
A 4th round of private financing worth $45 million was completed in May 2007. It was bring the total investment to $105 million. Tesla’s first car, the Roadster, was officially revealed on July 19, 2006. The event was held at the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California. It was a 350-person invitation-only event.
In August 2007, the board led by Elon Musk asked Eberhard to step down as CEO. Eberhard eventually assumed the title of “President of Technology” before leaving the company in January 2008. Co-founder Mark Tarpening, who served as the company’s vice president of electrical engineering, left the company in January 2008.
In August 2007, Michael Marks was appointed interim CEO. Similarly, in December 2007 Z’ev Drori became CEO and President. Elon Musk replaced Drori as CEO in October 2008. In June 2009, Eberhard sued Musk for forced termination.
As of January 2009, Tesla had raised $187 million and delivered 147 cars. Elon Musk contributed $70 million of his own money to the company. The United States Department of Energy approved a loan of $465 million with interest to Tesla in June 2009.
The funding was part of the $8 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. It supported the engineering and production of the “Model S” sedan. It also supported the development of commercial powertrain technology.
In May 2010, Tesla purchased the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California from Toyota for $42 million. It was opened the facility in October 2010 to begin production of the Model S. On June 29, 2010, the company became a public company through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Tesla Inc. was the first American car company to do since Ford Motor Company had an IPO in 1956. This company issued 13.3 million shares. Company raised $226 million at $17.00 per share. In January 2012, Tesla stopped production of the Roadster. In June the company launched its second car, the “Model S” luxury sedan.
The “Model S” car is an electric car from the Tesla company. This car won several automotive awards in 2012 and 2013. One of the awards was the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year. Additionally, the Model S was on the top of the Norwegian new car sales list. It became the first electric car to top the country’s monthly sales ranking.
Tesla Company announced Tesla Autopilot, a driver-assistance system, in 2014. In September of that year, all Tesla cars began supporting this feature with sensors and software.
In April 2015, Tesla entered the energy storage market by unveiling its Tesla Powerwall (home) and Tesla Powerpack (business) battery packs. Within a week of its launch, the company received orders worth $800 million.
The luxury SUV Tesla “Model X” is the company’s 3rd vehicle. It was shipped to customers starting in September 2015, with 25,000 pre-orders already booked.
Tesla acquired SolarCity, a solar installation company, for $2.6 billion in an all-stock deal in November 2016. Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2.6 billion in an all-stock deal in November 2016. This was allowed the company to enter the photovoltaics market. It was then merged with Tesla’s existing battery energy storage products division. Now, it was formed the Tesla Energy subsidiary.
In February 2017, after expanded business scope, Tesla Motors changed name to Tesla, Inc. This scope now includes electric vehicles, battery energy storage systems, and solar power generation.
The following year Tesla Company was began construction of a new Gigafactory near Berlin, Germany. Another one started in Texas, United States. In March 2020, the Model Y crossover, Tesla’s 5th vehicle model, began to be delivered. On June 10, 2020, Tesla’s market capitalization surpassed that of BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen.
The next month, Tesla market capitalization was reached a valuation of $206 billion. It was surpassed Toyota’s $202 billion as the world’s most valuable automaker by market capitalization. On August 31, 2020, following this valuation increase, Tesla conducted a 5-for-1 stock split.
In February 2021, Tesla revealed that it would invest .5 billion in bitcoin crypto currency. On March 24, the company began accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for vehicle purchases in the United States. They also said they would later introduce Bitcoin payment in other countries.
On March 22, 2022, Tesla opened its new car factory outside Berlin. Here, Chief Executive Elon Musk hands over the first deliveries to customers. US carmakers Giga Berlin plant is Europe’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles.
On April 7, 2022, Tesla publicly opened the Giga Texas facility with 15,000 invitees with its Cyber Rodeo event.
Musk claims that Tesla will produce more than 3 million cars by August 2022. The plans were to double Shanghai (China) production to 2 million cars a year. This happened after facing roadblocks from China’s central government.
Officials there expressed concern over Elon musk’s activities at SpaceX. Particularly, the rapidly expanding military applications of Starlink were a concern. They were worried about its potential impact on global strategic defense.
