Tesla- the coming of age Electric Vehicles

Tesla was formed in 2003 by a team of engineers who needed to prove that driving electric vehicles doesn’t have to be a compromise – that they can be better, faster, and more fun to drive than gasoline cars. Tesla now manufactures not only all-electric automobiles, but also renewable energy generation and storage systems that are infinitely scalable. The faster the world moves away from fossil fuels and toward a zero-emission future, Tesla believes that it is for better.

Now let us have a deep dive into how Tesla had its growth from a child start up to a gigantic electric car giant industry.

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, two Silicon Valley engineers, came up with the idea for Tesla in 2003. After selling their eReader company for $187 million, the partners were looking for their next big idea. The tragic “death” of GM’s EV1 electric car that year served as an inspiration, and the two engineers began researching ways to minimise the world’s reliance on Middle Eastern oil while also combating climate change. They were strongly affected to start it after General Motors recalled and then destroyed all of its EV1 electric cars in 2003, seeing the
higher fuel efficiency of battery-electric cars as an opportunity to break the traditional correlation between high performance and low fuel economy in automobiles. The AC Propulsion tzero was also the inspiration for the Roadster, the company’s first automobile. Eberhard stated that he aimed to create “a car manufacturer that is also a technological firm,” with “the battery, computer software, and proprietary motor” as fundamental technologies. They launched Tesla Motors on July 1, 2003 in San Carlos, California.
The Initial founders and Musk Ian Wright came on board as the third employee a few months later. In January 2004, the three started looking for venture capital funding and met Elon Musk, who contributed US$6.5 million
of the initial Series A ,US$7.5 million round of investment and became chairman of the board of directors in February 2004. Musk subsequently named Eberhard as the company’s CEO. J.B. Straubel was hired as the fifth employee in May 2004. In September 2009 , A legal settlement between Eberhard and Tesla permitted all five co founders (Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, Musk, and Straubel) to use the term “co-founder.” Musk was involved in the company and oversaw Roadster product design at a high level, but he was not involved in the day-to-day operations. Eberhard acknowledged that Musk was the one who insisted on a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer body from the start, and that Musk was the one who oversaw the design of components ranging from the power electronics module to the headlamps and other styling. Musk received the Global Green 2006 product design prize, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev, for his design of the Tesla Roadster, as well as the 2007 Index
Design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster.

Tesla’s long-term strategic goal, according to Musk, has always been to produce inexpensive mass market electric vehicles. Tesla’s strategy was to start with a high-end sports car aimed at early adopters before expanding into more mainstream vehicles such as sedans and cheap compacts.
Eberhard held the Role until the board of directors asked him to resign in August 2007. After that, Eberhard was promoted to “President of Technology” before departing the business in January 2008. Marc Tarpenning, a co-founder and the company’s Vice President of Electrical Engineering, left the company in January 2008. Michael Marks was appointed temporary CEO in August 2007, and Ze’ev Drori was named CEO and President in December 2007. Following a performance evaluation by the new CEO in January 2008, Tesla sacked numerous key individuals who had been involved since the company’s beginnings. Tesla was compelled to cut its personnel by around 10%, according to Musk, in order to minimise its burn rate, which was out of control in 2007. Tesla required another round of financing to survive, thus “The Truth About Cars” website initiated a “Tesla Death Watch” in May 2008. Musk took over as CEO of Tesla in October 2008, firing 25% of the company’s workforce. Drori rose to the position of vice-chairman before leaving the company in December 2008. A fifth round of investment converted to debt financing in December, adding another US$40 million and avoiding
bankruptcy. More on the Environmental sustainability Values On which Tesla believes and operates:
Tesla automobiles are made at the company’s factories in Fremont, California, and Shanghai’s Gigafactory. Tesla is going to be the key to safety, requiring production personnel to complete a multi-day training programme before ever setting foot on the factory floor, in order to realise our aim of having the safest plants in the world. Tesla then continues to conduct on-the-job training and monitor performance on a daily basis in order to make rapid changes. As a consequence, Tesla’s safety record continues to improve as manufacturing gains momentum.
Tesla also makes a unique set of energy solutions, including the Powerwall, Powerpack, and Solar Roof, which enable homeowners, businesses, and utilities to manage renewable energy generation, storage, and consumption. Gigafactory 1 – a system to drastically lower battery cell costs – is supporting Tesla’s automotive and energy offerings. Tesla builds batteries at the levels required to reach production targets while also employment increased by bringing cell production in-house.

And this is only the start. With the release of its most cheap car yet, Tesla continues to make its products more accessible and affordable to a wider range of consumers, driving the adoption of clean transportation and clean energy generation. Electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy generation and storage all exist on their own, but when they’re combined, they’re much more powerful.

What’s the story of Tesla without Musk? Here are one of the few moves by Elon Musk during the initial stages.
He ended up laying off 25% of his employees. He enlisted the support of friends to cover payroll on a weekly basis. To avoid insolvency, he raised a $40 debt financing round. He forged a strategic agreement with Daimler AG, which paid $50 million for a 10% share in Tesla. He borrowed $465 million from the US Department of Energy (He repaid it back ahead of the deadline)He said he was recalling 75% of the Roadsters made between March 2008 and April 2009.Tesla made it through its most difficult period despite overhauling its whole production process and the company itself.