Tesla was incorporated in July 2003 by engineers Martin Eberhard & Marc Tarpenning. The company’s name is a tribute to inventor & futurist Nikola Tesla. During the initial phase, the founders dreamed of building an all-electric sports car. In May 2010, Tesla purchased a manufacturing plant from Toyota in Fremont, California for $42 million. This huge facility had assembly lines 1.5 miles long!
Elon Musk:
In February 2004, Elon Musk entered the company with an investment of $6.5 million and gradually became its largest shareholder. He has served as CEO and product architect of Tesla Inc since 2008.
Cars:
In 2006, the company unveiled the prototype for their first car, the Tesla Roadster. This electric sports car entered production in 2008. The company sold 147 Roadsters in the 1st year of its production.
In January 2012, Tesla ceased production of the Roadster.
In June 2012, the company launched its second car, the Model S luxury sedan.
The Model S was the top-selling battery electric car worldwide in 2015 & 2016.
Then came the Model X SUV which the company began shipping in September 2015. The car is known for its falcon-wing doors for passenger access.
Tesla began selling its fourth electric car, the Model 3 sedan, in July 2017. Customers who already owned a Tesla vehicle, got priority delivery post booking. The Model 3 was cheaper compared to previous Tesla vehicles. It became the world’s best-selling electric car and in June 2021, became the first electric car to complete 1 million sales worldwide.
Until 2019, the Nissan Leaf was the world’s best selling plug-in electric car. The Tesla Model 3 overtook it in early 2020 to become the world’s best selling electric car.
In March 2020, Tesla began deliveries of its fifth EV, the Model Y compact SUV.
Tesla Gigafactory:
Elon Musk coined the term ‘Gigafactory’ to refer to the huge facilities where Tesla cars and its parts are manufactured. There are currently five Gigafactories. The United States has three: Giga Nevada, Giga New York & Giga Texas.
Tesla opened its first Gigafactory outside the United States in 2019 in Shanghai, China. The company has a Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany as well.
Tesla Supercharger Network:
In 2012, Tesla began building a network of fast-charging ‘Supercharger’ stations. As of June 2022, Tesla operates 36,165 Superchargers in 3,971 stations worldwide (an average of 9 chargers per station).
The Supercharger was Tesla’s proprietary DC fast-charging tech that provides up to 250 kW of charging power. In addition to the Superchargers, Tesla also has destination chargers, which are located at places such as hotels, restaurants, theme parks & shopping centres. The company has a partnership with Airbnb to install destination chargers at its locations.
In November 2022, Tesla renamed its proprietary charging connector to ‘North American Charging Standard (NACS)’, making the specs available to other EV manufacturers.
Battery:
Panasonic supplies batteries to Tesla. Panasonic’s relationship with Tesla began more than a decade ago when Tesla signed an agreement to make the Japanese company its key battery supplier.
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Tesla Servicing:
Tesla’s strategy is to service its electric cars through remote diagnosis & repair. If it is not possible to resolve a problem remotely, customers are referred to the nearest Tesla service station. The company also sends technicians to the customer’s place upon request. Tesla states that it does not want to make a profit via vehicle servicing, which has traditionally been a significant profit-making avenue for most automakers.
Interesting Facts:
In February 2021, Tesla revealed that it had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin and a month later the company started accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for vehicle purchases in the United States.
In October 2021, Tesla’s market capitalization reached $1 trillion, the 6th company to do so in United States history.
The Future:
A highly anticipated future Tesla product is the Cybertruck. The Cybertruck is a pickup truck which was unveiled in November 2019.
Production has been delayed since and now it is rumoured that some announcement will be made mid-2023.
The only discontinued Tesla vehicle model is the original Tesla Roadster. However, Tesla has showcased the 2nd generation Roadster, deliveries of which will start in 2023.
It is expected that the new Roadster will offer a range of 1000 km and 0-100 km/hr acceleration in less than 2 seconds!
Tesla & India:
In May 2022, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla won’t set up a manufacturing plant in India until it is first allowed to sell imported cars in the country.
Tesla has been seeking reduction in import duties to sell its EVs in India but the Indian government is persuading the revolutionary EV maker to commit to manufacturing locally first. India imposes 100% import duty on cars. In a letter to Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways last year, Tesla had sought 40% import duty on fully assembled electric cars. Gadkari said that if the company wants to manufacture in China and sell here, “It cannot be a good proposition for India. So, our request to him is to come to India and manufacture here.”
Conclusion:
Auto & market experts believe that the future of Tesla Inc is solely in Elon Musk’s hands. Some like his appetite for risk, some don’t. As far as the stock market is concerned, the company has delivered brilliant returns for investors in recent years. Despite tremendous brand power, Tesla is facing some difficulties at present which includes loss of market dominance in one of its biggest markets, China. This may force the company to reduce prices.
Tesla has an impressive record of generating profitable growth compared to other leading car manufacturers like GM & Ford. Musk is expecting this to continue with its upcoming Cybertruck, which he calls a future ‘hall of famer’.
Whatever people may say, the truth is that Tesla is a success story, a catalyst for industry-wide change and has an interesting future.
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