Tesla
Tesla, Inc. (/ˈtɛslə/ TESS-lə or /ˈtɛzlə/ TEZ-lə[b]) is an American automotive and clean energy company based in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar roof tiles, and related products and services. Tesla is one of the world's most valuable companies and remains the world's most valuable automaker with a market capitalization of more than US$600 billion. The company had the most worldwide sales of battery electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles, capturing 23% of the battery-electric (purely electric) market and 16% of the plug-in market (which includes plug-in hybrids) in 2020. Through its subsidiary Tesla Energy, the company develops and is a major installer of photovoltaic systems in the United States. Tesla Energy is also one of the largest global suppliers of battery energy storage systems, with 3.99 gigawatt-hours (GWh) installed in 2021.
Tesla was founded in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning as Tesla Motors. The company's name is a tribute to inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla. In February 2004, via a $6.5 million investment, Elon Musk became the largest shareholder of the company. He has served as CEO since 2008. According to Musk, the purpose of Tesla is to help expedite the move to sustainable transport and energy, obtained through electric vehicles and solar power. Tesla began production of its first car model, the Roadster sports car, in 2009. This was followed by the Model S sedan in 2012, the Model X SUV in 2015, the Model 3 sedan in 2017, and the Model Y crossover in 2020. The Model 3 is the all-time best-selling plug-in electric car worldwide, and, in June 2021, became the first electric car to sell 1 million units globally. Tesla's global sales were 936,222 cars in 2021, a 87% increase over the previous year, and cumulative sales totaled 2.3 million cars at the end of 2021. In October 2021, Tesla's market capitalization reached $1 trillion, the sixth company to do so in U.S. history.
Tesla has been the subject of many lawsuits and controversies arising from statements and acts of CEO Elon Musk and from allegations of creative accounting, whistleblower retaliation, worker rights violations, and unresolved and dangerous technical problems with their products. In September 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ordered Tesla to submit data pertaining to all sold US vehicles equipped with Autopilot following the agency's investigations into traffic deaths involving the use of Autopilot.
Models
Tesla Model S
The Model S is a five-door liftback sedan. Deliveries began on June 22, 2012. The car became the first electric vehicle to top the monthly sales ranking in any country, when it achieved first place in the Norwegian new car sales list in September 2013. The Model S won the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year, the 2013 "World Green Car", Automobile magazine's 2013 "Car of the Year", Time magazine's Best 25 Inventions of the Year 2012 award, as well as the 2019 Motor Trend "Ultimate Car of the Year".
The Model S was the best-selling plug-in electric car worldwide for the years 2015 and 2016, selling an estimated 50,931 units in 2016. By the end of 2017, it was the world's second best selling plug-in electric car in history (after the Nissan Leaf), with global sales of 200,000 units. In June 2020, Tesla announced that the Model S Long Range Plus had an EPA range of 402 miles (647 km), the highest of any battery electric vehicle at the time.
Tesla Model X
The Tesla Model X is a mid-size crossover SUV. It is offered in 5-, 6- and 7-passenger configurations. The Model X was developed from the full-sized sedan platform of the Model S. The rear passenger doors open vertically with an articulating "falcon-wing" design.
Deliveries started in September 2015. In 2016, after one full year on the market, the Model X ranked seventh among the world's best-selling plug-in cars. The United States is its main market, with an estimated 57,327 units sold through September 2018.
Tesla Model 3
The Model 3 is a four-door fastback sedan. Tesla unveiled the Model 3 on March 31, 2016. Potential customers began reserving spots earlier that day with a refundable deposit. One week after the unveiling, Tesla reported over 325,000 reservations.Bloomberg News claimed that, due to the number of reservations, "the Model 3's unveiling was unique in the 100-year history of the mass-market automobile." Limited vehicle production began in July 2017.
Since March 2020, the Model 3 is the world's best selling electric car in history, and cumulative global sales passed the 1 million milestone in June 2021. The Model 3 has ranked as the world's best selling plug-in electric car for four consecutive years, from 2018 to 2021, and also as the best selling plug-in electric car in the United States since 2018. The Model 3 also set records in Norway and the Netherlands, as the best selling passenger car model in those countries in 2019.
Tesla Model Y
The Model Y is a compact crossover utility vehicle. The Model Y is built on a platform that shares many components with the Model 3. The car has up to three rows of seats (up to 7 people), 68 cubic feet (1.9 m3) of cargo space (with the second and third rows folded), and has an EPA range of up to 326 miles (525 km).
The Model Y was unveiled on March 14, 2019. Deliveries for the Model Y started on March 13, 2020. The Tesla Model Y is being manufactured at Tesla Factory in Fremont, California, as well as in Giga Shanghai in China. A version of the Model Y is also expected to be produced at Giga Berlin once the factory is open.
Tesla Roadster (second generation)
In a surprise reveal at the end of the event that introduced the Tesla Semi on November 16, 2017, Tesla unveiled the second generation Roadster. Musk said that the new model will have a range of 620 miles (1,000 km) with the 200 kilowatt-hours (720 MJ) battery pack and will achieve 0–60 miles per hour (0–97 km/h) in 1.9 seconds; it also will achieve 0–100 miles per hour (0–161 km/h) in 4.2 seconds, and the top speed will be over 250 miles per hour (400 km/h). The SpaceX Package will include cold air thrusters that will increase the speed even more. The vehicle will have three electric motors allowing for all-wheel drive and torque vectoring during cornering.
At the time, the base price was set at $200,000, while the first 1,000 units (the Founder's series) will sell for $250,000. Reservations required a deposit of $50,000, and those who ordered the Founder's series paid the $250,000 in full upon ordering. Those who made a reservation at the event were allowed a test drive (with a driver) in the prototype. Deliveries are expected to start in 2023.
Tesla Cybertruck
The Cybertruck is a pickup truck unveiled on November 21, 2019. Production has been delayed past 2022, and as of January 2022 is rumored to be early 2023. The truck's design had a mixed reception, and some Wall Street analysts questioned whether American pickup truck buyers will have interest in the Cybertruck. On September 22, 2020, Musk revealed roughly 600,000 Cybertruck preorders. James Goodwin, chief executive of ANCAP, said in 2019 that the design of the Cybertruck could pose safety risks, saying that the front "would look like it’s not very forgiving". After the Cybertruck's unveiling, Musk announced that the Tesla Cyberquad, an electric four-wheel quad bike revealed alongside the Cybertruck, would be an optional accessory for Cybertruck buyers.
