Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors, Inc.

Tesla Headquarters in Palo Alto
Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: TSLA NASDAQ-100 Component SPBEX: TSLA
Industry	Automotive Energy Storage
Founded	July 2003
Founders	Elon Musk JB Straubel Martin Eberhard Marc Tarpenning Ian Wright
Headquarters	Palo Alto, California, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Elon Musk Chairman, CEO[1] JB Straubel CTO Jason Wheeler CFO
Products	Electric Vehicles Tesla Energy
Revenue	US$4.05B[2] (2015)
Operating income	US$-716.6M[2] (2015)
Net income	US$-888.7M[2] (2015)
Total assets	US$12.59B[3] (2016)
Total equity	US$2.68B[3] (2016)
Owner	Elon Musk (22.25%)[4]
Number of employees	30,000+ (2016)[5]
Subsidiaries	SolarCity, Grohmann
Website	tesla.com
Footnotes / references [6]

Tesla Motors (often shortened to Tesla) is an American automaker and energy storage company co-founded by Elon Musk, Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, JB Straubel and Ian Wright, and is based in Palo Alto, California. The company specializes in electric cars and their powertrain components and also produces battery charging equipment.^[7][8][9]

Tesla first gained widespread attention following its production of the Tesla Roadster, the first electric sports car, in 2008.^[10] The company's second vehicle, the Model S, an electric luxury sedan, debuted in 2012 and is built at the Tesla Factory in California. In Q1 2013, Tesla released its stock profits for the first time from its NASDAQ ticker symbol.^[11][12] Global sales for the Model S passed the 100,000 units milestone in December 2015, three and a half years after its introduction,^[13] and it was the world's best-selling plug-in vehicle that year.^[14] As of June 2016, the Model S ranked as the world's all-time second-best-selling plug-in after the Nissan Leaf.^[15] The car was then followed by the Model X, a crossover SUV. Tesla's next vehicle is the Model 3,^[16] which was unveiled in March 2016 and is slated for release in 2017 with a price at US$35,000 before any government incentives.^[17][18]

As of September 2016, Tesla Motors has sold almost 164,000 electric cars worldwide since delivery of its first Tesla Roadster in 2008, making the electric carmaker the second largest global plug-in car manufacturer after the Renault-Nissan Alliance.^[19] Musk, the CEO, has said that he envisions Tesla Motors as an independent automaker,^[20] aimed at eventually offering electric cars at prices affordable to the average consumer.^[21][22]

Tesla has installed a network of high-powered Superchargers across North America, Europe and Asia for Tesla cars.^[23] The company also operates a Destination Charging program, under which shops, restaurants and other venues are offered fast chargers for their customers.^[24] Tesla builds the Gigafactory 1 near Reno, Nevada where Panasonic builds 21-70 cells for Tesla batteries. Tesla also manufactures the Tesla Powerwall and Powerpack batteries for home and industry.

Overview

Tesla Motors Financial Performance

Tesla Motors is named after electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla.^[25][26] The Tesla Roadster uses an AC motor descended directly from Nikola Tesla's original 1882 design.^[27] The Roadster, the company's first vehicle, was the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production EV with a range greater than 200 miles (320 km) per charge.^[28] Between 2008 and March 2012, Tesla sold more than 2,250 Roadsters in 31 countries.^[29][30][31] Tesla stopped taking orders for the Roadster in the U.S. market in August 2011.^[32] In December 2012, Tesla employed almost 3,000 full-time employees.^[6][33] By December 31, 2015, this number had grown to 13,058 employees,^[34] and to over 30,000 (of which 25,000 in US) after acquiring Grohmann and SolarCity in late 2016.^[5]

Tesla unveiled the Tesla Model S all-electric sedan on March 26, 2009,^[35] and began deliveries in June 2012.^[36] First deliveries of the Model X began in September 2015.^[37] Global sales of the Model S passed the 100,000 unit milestone in December 2015, three years and a half after its introduction.^[13] The Model 3, the company's first model aimed for the mass market, was unveiled in March 2016. A week after the unveiling, global reservations totaled 325,000 units, representing potential sales of over US$14 billion.^[17][38] As of June 2016, the Model S ranked as the world's all-time second-best-selling plug-in after the Nissan Leaf.^[15]

History

The beginnings - Roadster and private funding

The insignia of Tesla Motors as seen on a Tesla Roadster Sport

Tesla Motors was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning who financed the company until the Series A round of funding.^[39]

Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004, joining Tesla's board of directors as its chairman as well as in operational roles. Musk was the controlling investor in Tesla from the first financing round, funding the large majority of the Series A capital investment round of US$7.5 million with personal funds. Tesla's early primary goal was to commercialize electric vehicles, starting with a premium sports car aimed at early adopters and then moving as rapidly as possible into more mainstream vehicles, including sedans and affordable compacts for the mass market,^[40][41] serving "as a catalyst to accelerate the day of electric vehicles".^[42][43]

Tesla Motors signed a production contract on July 11, 2005, with Group Lotus to produce "gliders" (complete cars minus powertrain).^[44] The contract ran through March 2011, but the two automakers extended the deal to keep the electric Roadster in production through December 2011 with a minimum number of 2,400 units.^[45]

Musk led Tesla Motors' Series B US$13 million investment round. Musk co-led the third, US$40 million round in May 2006. Tesla's third round included investment from prominent entrepreneurs including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.^[46] The fourth round in May 2007 added another US$45 million and brought the total investments to over US$105 million through private financing.

According to Musk, Tesla was forced to reduce the company workforce by about 10% to lower its burn rate, which was out of control in 2007.^[47] In May 2008, The Truth About Cars launched a "Tesla Death Watch", as Tesla needed another round of finance to survive. In October 2008, Musk became CEO and fired 25% of Tesla employees.^[48] Ze'ev Drori moved from President and CEO to became vice-chairman, but then left the company in December. In December a fifth round added another US$40 million avoiding bankruptcy.^[49][50]

By January 2009, Tesla had raised US$187 million and delivered 147 cars. Musk had contributed US$70 million of his own money to the company.^[47][51] The prototype Model S was displayed at a press conference on March 26, 2009.^[52] On May 19, 2009, Germany's Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz, acquired an equity stake of less than 10% of Tesla for a reported US$50 million,^[53][54] in effect saving Tesla.^[55] Toyota provided a similar amount in 2010.^[54]

The Tesla obelisk is used to identify the Supercharger network sites in California.

In June 2009 Tesla was approved to receive US$465 million in low-interest-bearing loans from the 2007 US$8 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program by the United States Department of Energy,^[56] while Ford got $5.9 billion, and Nissan got $1.6 billion.^[54] The funding came in 2010, and supported engineering and production of the Model S sedan, as well as the development of commercial powertrain technology.^[56] Tesla repaid the loan early and with $12m in interest in May 2013 as the first of the automakers to repay.^[57]

IPO and Model S

On June 29, 2010, Tesla Motors launched its initial public offering (IPO) on NASDAQ. 13,300,000 shares of common stock were issued to the public at a price of US$17.00 per share.^[58] The IPO raised US$226 million for the company.^[59] It was the first American car maker to go public since the Ford Motor Company had its IPO in 1956,^[60] and by 2014 Tesla had market value half that of Ford.^[61] Model S deliveries began in June 2012.

As of 2014, Tesla has a US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 276 mpg.^[62]

Tesla makes its cars at the Tesla Factory in California. As a result of the high demand for Model 3, in May 2016 Tesla Motors announced its decision to advance its 500,000 annual unit build plan (combined for Model S, Model X, and Model 3) to 2018, two years earlier than previously planned, in order to accelerate its target for Model 3 output.^[63][64] This in turn can allow more Model 3 buyers to benefit from the $7,500 US tax credit before the limit of 200,000 electric vehicles per maker since 2010 reduces the credit.^[65][66][67]

The US authorities encourage production of non-polluting vehicles (electric or other) by legislating incentives for manufacturers, usually tax credits and ZEV credits from other manufacturers,^[68] and local authorities also try to attract new business with tax abatements.^[69] A financial watchdog group counts $2.4 billion in future incentives for Tesla, mostly Nevada tax credits (for Gigafactory 1) until the year 2034.^[70][71]

Tesla has financed operations (production, development, administration, etc.) partly by sales income, stock offering and bond sales. In May 2013 Tesla raised $1.02 billion ($660m from bonds) partially to repay the DOE loans after their first profitable quarter,^[72][73] in February 2014 $2 billion from bonds (building GigaFactory),^[73] in August 2015 $738 million in stock (for the Model X),^[74] and in May 2016 $1.46 billion in stock ($1.26 billion for the Model 3).^[75] Tesla has raised over $4.5 billion since the IPO in 2010.^[76] As of January 29, 2016, Musk owns about 28.9 million Tesla shares, which equates to about 22% of the company.^[77][78] Tesla states that its automotive branch has a gross margin of 23.1% as of 2Q2016.^[79] However, expenditures^[80] for future operation are bigger than product profit, resulting in a net loss.^[81]

Production and sales

Quarter	Total production	Model S sales	Model X sales	Total sales	In transit[lower-alpha 1]	Source
Q1 2015	11,160	10,045	0	10,045		[82]
Q2 2015	12,807	11,532	0	11,532		[83]
Q3 2015	13,091	11,597	6	11,603		[84]
Q4 2015	14,037	17,272	206	17,478		[85]
Q1 2016	15,510	12,420	2,400	14,820	2,615	[64]
Q2 2016	18,345	9,764	4,638	14,402	5,150	[86][87]
Q3 2016	25,185	16,047	8,774	24,821	5,065	[88]

1. Goods in transit are produced but not counted as sold until delivered

Tesla deliveries vary significantly between months due to regional issues such as ship availability, registration and so on. Tesla does not follow the auto industry standard of monthly reporting.^[89] Some monthly sales are estimated by media.^[90]

Corporate strategy

Tesla's strategy has been to emulate typical technological-product life cycles and initially enter the automotive market with an expensive, high-end product targeted at affluent buyers. As the company, its products, and consumer acceptance matured, it is moving into larger, more competitive markets at lower price points.^[40][91] The battery and electric drivetrain technology for each model would be developed and paid for through sales of the former models.^[40][92] The Roadster was low-volume, priced at US$109,000. Model S and X are mid-price and mid-volume; Model S had a base price of US$57,400. Model 3 is aimed at high-volume with a base price of US$35,000.^[41][93] This business strategy is very popular in the technology industry such as for cellular phones, laptop computers, and flat-screen televisions.^[94] According to a blog post by Musk, "New technology in any field takes a few versions to optimize before reaching the mass market, and in this case it is competing with 150 years and trillions of dollars spent on gasoline cars."^[95]

Tesla Motor's high degree of vertical integration (80% in 2016 according to Goldman Sachs), which includes component production and proprietary charging infrastructure, is rare in the automotive industry, where companies typically outsource 80% of components to suppliers,^[96] and focus on engine manufacturing and vehicle assembly.^[97][98]

Some of Tesla's stated goals are to increase the number and variety of electric vehicles (EVs) available to mainstream consumers by:

• selling its own vehicles in company-owned showrooms and online^[99]
• selling powertrain components to other automakers^[100][101]
• serving as a catalyst and positive example to other automakers^{[41][54][102][103]}

Tesla focuses on pure-electric propulsion technology, even for larger vehicles and ranges beyond 200 miles (320 km). Musk won the 2010 Automotive Executive of the Year Innovator Award for hastening the development of electric vehicles throughout the world.^[104]

Tesla aims to disrupt the automotive industry by bringing many innovative pieces which fit together to bring tremendous advantages; this strategy was called 'complex coordination' by Tesla investor Peter Thiel (see PayPal Mafia).^[105]

Arnnon Geshuri, the Vice President of Human Resources since November 2009, has committed to bringing manufacturing jobs "back to California".^[106][107] In 2015, Geshuri led a hiring spree for Tesla about which he said; "In the last 14 months we've had 1.5 million applications from around the world. People want to work here."^[108] Geshuri also emphasizes hiring military veterans, saying "Veterans are a great source of talent for Tesla, and we're going after it."^[107][109] The company is known for its outreach efforts to hire American military veterans.^[110]

On August 1, 2016, Tesla Motors Inc. publicly announced that it had agreed to acquire SolarCity Corp. for $2.6 billion in stock. SolarCity is the largest installer of rooftop solar systems in the United States.^[111] More than 85% of unaffiliated shareholders from Tesla and SolarCity voted to approve the acquisition on November 17, 2016,^[112][113] which was closed on the morning of November 21, 2016.^[114]

Sales model

Tesla Motors operates more than 200 stores and galleries, 120 of which are outside the US. It owns the stores and sells directly to customers via the internet and in non-US stores.^{[115][116][117]}

In August 2015, Tesla launched a revamp of its stores worldwide for the debut of its Model X. Stores will include interactive displays focused on four themes: safety, autopilot, charging network and the dual motors that power each axle.^[118]

US dealerships and automotive dealership disputes

Tesla gallery in Austin, Texas.

External image

Map of direct automaker sales, regarding Tesla conditions

There are stores and galleries^[119][120]—usually located in shopping malls—in 22 US states and Washington DC. Customers cannot buy vehicles from stores,^{[121][122][123]} only from the Tesla Motors website.^[124] The stores serve as showrooms that allow people to learn about the company and its vehicles. Some galleries are located in states with restrictive dealership protection laws which prevent discussing price, financing, and test drives, as well as other restrictions.

Tesla's strategy of direct customer sales and owning stores and service centers is different from the standard dealership model in the US vehicle marketplace.^[125] Tesla Motors is the only automaker that sells cars directly to consumers; all other automakers use independently owned dealerships^[126][127] (partly due to earlier conflict),^[61][128] although some automakers provide online configuration and financing.^{[129][130][131]} 48 states have laws that limit or ban manufacturers from selling vehicles directly to consumers,^{[132][133][134]} and although Tesla has no independent dealerships, dealership associations in multiple states have filed numerous lawsuits against Tesla Motors, to prevent the company from selling cars. North Carolina and New Hampshire sided with Tesla, while Virginia and Texas sided with dealers.^[135]

Countries other than US do not have such laws protecting car dealership. The Federal Trade Commission recommends allowing direct manufacturer sales,^[136][137] which analysts believe would save consumers 8% per purchase on average.^[61][138] The National Automobile Dealers Association states that franchises (such as offered by its members) offer better value for customers than direct sales.^[125][139]

Certified Pre-Owned program

Under a buyback program called Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) available in 37 US states, a Tesla Model S is sold with the right to return it to the company after three years for a reimbursement of 43% to 50% of its initial price. This reimbursement matches the trade-in values of German luxury cars of that age. In addition to maintaining a high resale value of its cars, Tesla Motors hopes to secure a supply of used cars to refurbish and re-sell with warranty. According to Automotive News, the profit margin on used car sales in the US is about triple that on new cars, and because Tesla sells directly to consumers, it would collect resale profits.^[140] In May 2015, Tesla started selling refurbished Model S in the US^[141] and within a month sold 1600 cars to buyers younger, less wealthy and a lower proportion of whom were from California than buyers of new Model S cars.^[142] As of July 2015, 269 used Model S were for sale in US Tesla stores, with a four-year, 50,000-mile warranty.^[143] Used 3 year old Model S sell for about 62% of their original price.^[144]

As of September 2015, similar programs existed in Canada (in 3 locations),^[145] Austria (3 locations),^[146] Belgium (3),^[147] Denmark (2),^[148] France (3),^[149] Germany (6),^[150] Britain (3),^[151] Netherlands (4),^[152] Norway (5),^[153] Sweden (2)^[154] and Switzerland (5).^[155] The program ended in some countries in July 2016, but continued in others.^[156]

Technology

Tesla Motors builds electric powertrain components for vehicles from other automakers, including the Smart ForTwo electric drive (the lowest-priced car from) Daimler), the Toyota RAV4 EV, and Freightliner's Custom Chassis Electric Van.

Batteries

Tesla Electric Car Recharging Station (USA, 2014)

Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not use single-purpose, large battery cells, but thousands of small, cylindrical, lithium-ion 18650-like commodity cells used in laptops and other consumer electronics devices. It uses a version of these cells that is designed to be cheaper to manufacture and lighter than standard cells by removing some safety features. According to Tesla, these features are redundant because of the advanced thermal management system and an intumescent chemical in the battery to prevent fires.^[157] Panasonic is the only supplier of the battery cells for the car company, and cooperates with Tesla in the Gigafactory building the '21-70' cells.^[158]

Tesla Motors may have the lowest costs for electric car batteries, estimated at US$200 per kWh.^{[97][157][159]} Tesla indicated in 2016 that their battery pack costs less than $190/kWh.^[160] Argonne Labs estimates $163/kWh at 500,000 packs per year.^[161] Tesla charges US$400/kWh for the 85-kWh battery, US$10,000 more than the 60-kWh battery. At US$200/kWh, the battery in the 60-kWh Model S would cost US$12,000, while the 85-kWh battery would cost US$17,000. The price increase is closer to US$8,000, because supercharging is included in the higher price. Use of lifetime supercharging was a US$2,500 option for the early 40-kWh and 60-kWh versions of Model S.

Unlike the Tesla Roadster, whose battery is behind the seats, the Model S, 3 and X batteries are inside the floor. This saves interior space and trunk space but, together with the low ride of the Model S, increases risk of battery damage by debris or impact. To protect the battery, the Model S has 0.25 in (6 mm) aluminum-alloy armor plate.^[162] The battery's location allows quick battery swapping, which can take as little as 90 seconds in the Model S.^[163] Tesla's first and only battery swap station is located at Harris Ranch, California, and became operational in December 2014.^[164] Due to lack of customer interest, battery swapping will not expand.^[165] Straubel expects batteries to last 10–15 years,^[166] and discounts using electric cars to charge the grid (V2G) because battery wear outweighs economic benefit. He also prefers recycling over re-use for grid once batteries have reached the end of their useful car life,^[167] and an analyst agreed.^[168] Since 2008, Tesla has worked with ToxCo/Kinsbursky to recycle worn out RoHS batteries, which will be an integral part of GigaFactory.^{[169][170][171]}

Technology sharing

The Tesla Patent Wall at its headquarters was removed after the company announced its patents are part of the open source movement.^[172]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in June 2014, that the company will allow its technology patents be used by anyone in good faith.^[173] Post-2014 agreements were expected to be executed that would include provisions whereby the recipients agree not to file patent suits against Tesla, or to copy its designs directly.^[174] Reasons expressed for this stance include attracting and motivating talented employees, as well as to accelerate the mass market advancement of electric cars for sustainable transport. "The unfortunate reality is, electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn't burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales," Musk said. Tesla will still hold other intellectual property, such as trademarks and trade secrets, which would help to prevent direct copying of its vehicles.^[175]

AutoPilot

AutoPilot provides semi-autonomous driver assist in all Tesla vehicles manufactured since late September 2014. These vehicles are equipped with a camera mounted at the top of the windshield, forward looking radar (supplied by Bosch)^[176][177] in the lower grill and ultrasonic acoustic location sensors in the front and rear bumpers that provide a 360-degree buffer zone around the car. This equipment allows vehicles to detect road signs, lane markings, obstacles and other vehicles. In addition to adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning, a US$2,500 "Tech Package" option allows this system to enable semi-autonomous drive (called Summon) and parking capabilities (called AutoPark).^[178][179] These features were activated via over-the-air software updates as of October 15, 2015. The AutoPilot system as of version 8 uses the radar as the primary sensor instead of the camera.^[180]

Starting October 2016, all Tesla cars are built with the necessary hardware to allow full self-driving capability at a safety level (SAE Level 5). The hardware includes eight surround cameras and twelve ultrasonic sensors, in addition to the forward-facing radar.^[181] The system will operate in "shadow mode" (processing without taking action) and send data back to Tesla to improve its abilities until the software is ready for deployment via over-the-air upgrades.^[182] Therefore, Tesla cars with the new hardware will not have automatic emergency braking, collision warning, lane holding and active cruise control initially; these will be activated after the features are validated over 2–3 months. After the required testing, Tesla expects to enable full self-driving by the end of 2017.^[183][184]

Tesla glass

In November 2016, the company revealed that they have created a Tesla glass technology group. The group is developing the glass that will be used in the Solar City roof tiles that were announced in October 2016. The group will also develop and manufacture the roof glass for the Tesla Model 3.^[185]

Competition

General Motors' then-Vice chairman Robert Lutz said in 2007 that the Tesla Roadster inspired him to push GM to develop the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid sedan.^[186] In an August 2009 edition of The New Yorker, Lutz was quoted as saying, "All the geniuses here at General Motors kept saying lithium-ion technology is 10 years away, and Toyota agreed with us—and boom, along comes Tesla. So I said, 'How come some tiny little California startup, run by guys who know nothing about the car business, can do this, and we can't?' That was the crowbar that helped break up the log jam."^[187]

Tesla's success with the Model S sedan has pressured other luxury-car makers to enter the alternative-fuel market^[188] to "challenge Tesla".^[189]

Car models

Comparison of EPA-rated range for model year 2016 and 2017 electric cars available in the U.S. market, and two upcoming models, Chevrolet Bolt EV and Tesla Model 3. Tesla Motors vehicles included correspond to the variants with the longest and shortest range for each model (Tesla Model S and Tesla Model X).^{[38][190][191]}

As of 30 September 2016, Tesla Motors has sold almost 164,000 electric cars worldwide since delivery of its first Tesla Roadster in 2008, making the electric carmaker the second largest global plug-in car manufacturer after the Renault-Nissan Alliance.^[19] The top selling car of Tesla's line-up is the Model S, with global sales of 145,459 units between June 2012 and September 2016,^{[14][85][86][88][192]} followed by the Model X with 16,024 units sold between September 2015 and September 2016,^{[64][85][86][88][193]} and the Roadster with about 2,450 units sold globally through December 2012.^[194] Tesla's fourth vehicle, the Model 3, is aimed for the mass market and retail deliveries are scheduled to begin by late 2017.^[195]

In September 2016, combined sales of Tesla Motors models totaled over 13,000 units worldwide, setting the record as the best monthly plug-in sales volume on record ever, by any automaker of plug-in cars.^[196] In early October 2016 Tesla reported that combined miles driven by its three models have accumulated 3 billion electric miles (4.8 billion km) traveled. The first billion mark was recorded in June 2015 and the second billion in April 2016.^[197]

Tesla Roadster

Tesla Motors' first production vehicle, the Tesla Roadster, was an all-electric sports car. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production for sale in the United States in the modern era. The Roadster was also the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and first mass production battery electric vehicle to travel more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge.^[28]

Prototypes were introduced to the public in July 2006. The Tesla Roadster was featured on the cover of Time in December 2006 as the recipient of the magazine's "Best Inventions 2006—Transportation Invention" award.^[198] The first "Signature One Hundred" set of fully equipped Roadsters sold out in less than three weeks,^[199] the second hundred sold out by October 2007, and general production began on March 17, 2008.^[200] Since February 2008 two new models were introduced, one in July 2009, and another in July 2010.^{[201][202][203]}

Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5, the company's fourth-generation Roadster

In January 2010, Tesla began producing its first right-hand-drive Roadsters for the UK and Ireland, then began selling them in mid-2010 in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.^[204] Tesla produced the Roadster until early 2012, when its supply of Lotus Elise gliders ran out, as its contract with Lotus Cars for 2,500 gliders expired at the end of 2011.^[30][31] Tesla stopped taking orders for the Roadster in the U.S. market in August 2011.^[205][206] Featuring new options and enhanced features, the 2012 Tesla Roadster was sold in limited numbers only in Europe, Asia and Australia.^[207][208] The next generation is expected to be introduced in 2019, based on a shortened version of the platform developed for the Tesla Model S.^[209] Tesla sold more than 2,400 Roadsters in 31 countries through September 2012.^[210][211] Most of the remaining Roadsters were sold during the fourth quarter of 2012.^[212] The U.S. was the leading market with about 1,800 Roadsters sold.^[213]

The car had an average range of 245 miles (394 km) per charge according to Tesla.^[214] On October 27, 2009, the Roadster driven by Simon Hackett drove the entire 313-mile (504 km) segment of Australia's annual Global Green Challenge on a single charge, at an average speed of 25 mph (40 km/h).^[215][216] The Tesla Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) in under 4 seconds and has a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h). The base price of the car is US$109,000 (€84,000 or GB£87,945).^[35] The Roadster Sport price started at US$128,500 in the United States and €112,000 (excluding VAT) in Europe. Deliveries began in July 2009. Motor Trend reported that the Roadster Sport recorded a 0–60 mph of 3.70 seconds and a quarter-mile test at 12.6 sec @ 102.6 mph (165.1 km/h), and stated "Tesla is the first maker to crack the EV legitimacy barrier in a century."^[217]

Model S

Tesla started production of its Tesla Model S sedan in 2012, and deliveries to retail customers began in June 2012.

The Model S was announced in a press release on June 30, 2008.^[218][219] Retail deliveries began in the US on June 22, 2012.^[36] The first delivery of a Model S to a retail customer in Europe took place on August 7, 2013.^[220] Deliveries in China began on April 22, 2014.^[221] First deliveries of the right-hand-drive model destined for the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan were made as scheduled in 2014.^[222] The United States Environmental Protection Agency range for the 85 kW·h battery pack model, the first trim launched in the United States market, is 265 mi (426 km),^[223] and 208 mi (335 km) for the model with the 60 kW·h battery.^[224]

In April 2016, Tesla updated the design of the Model S to look more like the Model X and made Model S 70, 70D, 75, 75D, 90 and 90D versions available. 70 and 70D Model S owners have the option to unlock the 75 kWh capacity via a software update, adding up to 19 miles per charge.^[225] The 60 and 60D, reintroduced in June 2016, owners have a US$9,000 anytime option to unlock the full 75 kWh capacity via a software update.^[226]

Global Model S sales by quarter through September 2016.

A total of 2,650 Model S cars were sold in North America during 2012, mostly in the United States.^[212] In 2013, the Model S was the top-selling full-size luxury sedan in the U.S.^[227] During 2014, a total of 31,655 units were delivered worldwide,^[228] making the Model S the world's second best-selling plug-in electric vehicle after the Nissan Leaf in 2014.^[228] The Model S, with total global sales of 50,446 units in 2015, was the world's best selling plug-in electric vehicle in 2015.^{[14][85][228]} The Model S also ranked as the top selling plug-in electric car in the United States in 2015.^[85] The Model S continued to lead global plug-in car sales during the first nine months of 2016,^[196] and also remained as the top selling plug-in car in the U.S. during the first ten months of 2016.^[229]

Norway is the Model S largest overseas market thanks to the country's comprehensive incentives for the adoption of pure electric cars.

The United States is the world's leading Model S market with an estimated 85,217 units sold through October 2016.^{[85][229][230]} Norway is the Model S largest overseas market,^[231] with 11,802 new units registered through October 2016.^{[232][233][234]} The Tesla Model S became the first electric car ever to top the monthly sales ranking in any country, when the electric car achieved the first place in the Norwegian new car sales list in September 2013.^{[235][236][237]}

Robotic manufacturing of the Model S at the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California

Tesla manufactures the Model S in Fremont, California, in an assembly plant formerly operated by NUMMI, a defunct joint venture of Toyota and General Motors, now called Tesla Factory. Tesla purchased a stake in the site in May 2010 for US$42 million,^{[54][238][239]} and opened the facility in October 2010.^{[238][240][241]} For the European market, Tesla assembles and distributes the Model S from its European Distribution Center in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Tesla chose Tilburg because of its location near the port of Rotterdam, where Models S components arrive from the U.S. The center also serves as a workshop and spare parts warehouse. Cars are built and tested in Fremont; then, the battery pack, the electric motor and parts are disassembled and shipped separately to Tilburg, where the cars are reassembled.^[242]

Among other awards, the Model S won the 2013 "Motor Trend Car of the Year",^[243] the 2013 "World Green Car",^[244] Automobile Magazine's 2013 "Car of the Year",^[245] and Time Magazine Best 25 Inventions of the Year 2012 award.^[246] In June 2015, three years after the Model S introduction and with almost 75,000 Model S sedans delivered worldwide, Tesla announced that Model S owners have accumulated over 1 billion electric miles (1.6 billion km) traveled.^[247][248] The Tesla Model S is the first plug-in electric vehicle fleet to reach the 1 billion electric miles milestone. In October 2014 General Motors reported that Volt owners had accumulated a total of 629 million all-electric miles (over 1 billion kilometers) traveled; while Nissan reported in December 2014 that Leaf owners had traveled 625 million miles (1 billion kilometers).^[248]

Tesla announced the sale of its Model S model in Spain in 2017 as part of its international retail presence in Western Europe.^[249]

Model X

Elon Musk delivering one of the first six Model X Founders Series models

The Tesla Model X is a full-size crossover SUV. Unveiled in February 2012,^[250] Model X deliveries started in September 2015.^[37]

More than a thousand people attended the 2012 unveiling, at which Musk said the car would enter production in 2013.^[251] In February 2013, Tesla announced that production had been rescheduled to begin by late 2014 in order to focus "on a commitment to bring profitability to the company in 2013" and to achieve their production target of 20,000 Model S cars in 2013.^[252][253] The company began taking reservations for the vehicle in 2013 and said that deliveries would begin in 2014.^[254][255]

In November 2013, Tesla confirmed the company expected to deliver the Model X in small numbers by end of 2014, with high volume production planned for the second quarter of 2015.^[256] However, Tesla announced in February 2014 that in order to focus on overseas roll outs of the Model S during 2014, it expected to have production design Model X prototypes in late 2014, and begin high-volume deliveries for retail customers in the second quarter of 2015.^[257] In November 2014 Tesla again delayed the start of deliveries till the third quarter of 2015.^[258] In August 2015, user groups estimated around 30,000 X pre-orders, compared to 12,000 for the S.^[259]

The Tesla Model X (right) shares the same platform and 30% of the parts of the Tesla Model S (left).

Deliveries of the Model X Signature series began on September 29, 2015. Pricing for the premium special version of the Model X varies between US$132,000 and US$144,000.^[37] Model X sales totaled 2,400 units during the first quarter of 2016. According to Tesla Motors, deliveries were lower than expected because production was impacted by severe Model X supplier parts shortages in the first two months of 2016.^[64] Sales during the second quarter of 2016 totaled 4,638 units. Although Tesla's production was up 20% from the previous quarter, the number of vehicles in transit at the end of June 2016 was much higher than expected (5,150 including Model S cars), representing 35.8% of the number of cars delivered in the quarter (14,402 vehicles including the Model S).^[86] Global sales passed the 10,000 unit mark in August 2016, with most vehicles delivered in the United States.^[260] Global deliveries totaled 8,774 units during the third quarter of 2016.^[88] As of September 2016, a total of 16,024 units have been delivered worldwide.^{[86][87][88][261]} The United States is the main market with 13,536 units delivered through October 2016.^{[262][263][264]}

The Model X ranked as the top selling plug-in electric car in Norway in September 2016.^[265][266] However, when Volkswagen Golf nameplate registrations are broken down by each variant's powertrain, the all-electric e-Golf registered 392 units, the Golf GTE plug-in hybrid 358, and the internal combustion-powered Golf only 242 units. Therefore, the Model X also ranked as the top selling new car model in September 2016.^{[265][266][267]} Norway was the world's first country to have all-electric cars topping the new car sales monthly ranking. Previously, the Tesla Model S had been the top selling new car four times.^[265]

Model 3

Tesla Model 3 prototype at the unveiling on March 31, 2016 in Hawthorne, California.

The Model 3 (stylized as "☰")^[268] was previously called the Model E, and was codenamed Tesla BlueStar in the original business plan.^[92] The current name was announced on Twitter on July 16, 2014.^[269] The all-electric car will have a range of at least 215 miles (350 km). First deliveries are expected in the US in late 2017^[270] and full production in 2018.^[271]

On March 31, 2016, Tesla unveiled its Model 3 for an invited audience and via a live stream on Tesla's website.^[272] Potential customers were first able to reserve spots in the queue at Tesla stores on March 31 with a refundable deposit of US$1,000.^[273] Tens of thousands of people were reported waiting in lines to reserve their spot.^[274] During the Model 3 unveiling event, it was revealed that over 115,000 people had reserved the Model 3 prior to the event.^[275] As of April 7, 2016, one week after the unveiling, Tesla Motors reported over 325,000 reservations, more than triple the 107,000 Model S cars sold by the end of 2015.^[276][277] These reservations represent potential sales of over US$14 billion.^[38] According to Tesla's global vice-president Robin Ren, China is the second largest market for the Model 3 after the US.^[278] Tesla reported net reservations totaled about 373,000 as of 15 May 2016, after about 8,000 cancellations by customers and about 4,200 cancellations by Tesla of reservations that appeared to be duplicates from speculators.^[279][280]

Tesla Motors claims this is "the single biggest one-week launch of any product ever."^[281] According to Bloomberg News, "the Model 3's unveiling was unique in the 100-year history of the mass-market automobile." Bloomberg reported that while the 1955 Citroën DS took in 80,000 deposits over 10-days at the Paris Auto Show, the Model 3 took 232,000 reservations in two days. In another comparison, the original iPhone had 270,000 sales and reservations, also in two days.^[282]

During the event, Tesla Motors announced that the Model 3 will be priced starting at US$35,000 before any applicable government incentives. However, with options, CEO Elon Musk predicted that the average sales price will approach US$42,000.^[38] Musk also stated that all Model 3s will support supercharging.^[283] Tesla also announced plans to make Model 3 available in several new markets including India, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Ireland.^[284]

The company plans for the Model 3 are part of Tesla's three step strategy to start at high price and move progressively towards lower cost, where the battery and electric drivetrain technology would be developed and paid for through sales of the Tesla Roadster and Tesla Model S vehicles.^[40][92] Whereas the Roadster used carbon fiber and the Model S and X use aluminum for the body, the composition of the Model 3 is unknown as of March 2016. Some expect it to use steel (for cost reasons),^[285] while others (in connection with the Model 3) note that the Tesla factory in March 2016 has a new aluminum stamping press with a 10 to 20-fold increase in capacity.^[286] Musk has said that Tesla will need to sell 500,000 cars per year (mostly Model 3) to become profitable.^[287] According to Tesla's CTO, JB Straubel, in October 2015 most Tesla engineers were working on the 3 rather than S or X.^[288][289] The design was finished in July 2016.^[290]

Future models

Future Tesla Motors cars may enhance autonomous driving. In 2014, CEO Elon Musk predicted fully autonomous driving technology might be ready within 6 years, but "it will take several more years for governments to work out the industry guidelines for wide embrace of the innovation".^[291]

Other vehicle categories have been presaged. In June 2009, Tesla announced plans for electric minivans, crossover SUVs and electric fleet vans for municipal governments.^[292][293] In 2010, Tesla articulated ideas besides the Model X crossover: a utility van and cabriolet were discussed that, if built, would be based on the second-generation platform like Model S.^[294] Besides the third-generation platform to be used in Model 3, the possibility of a truck was discussed in 2012.^[295] In July 2015, it was announced that a successor to the Roadster would debut in 2019.^[296] In October 2015, Musk revealed a future 'Model Y' that would be a Model 3/Model X-like cheaper crossover utility vehicle with falcon-wing doors,^[297] and Tesla trademarked the name "Model Y" in 2013.^[298] Musk hopes to produce a car cheaper than the Model 3, to be affordable for everyone:^[299][300]

There will be future cars that will be even more affordable down the road . . . With fourth generation and smaller cars and what not, we’ll ultimately be in a position where everyone can afford the car.

— Elon Musk at the Future Transport Solutions conference in Oslo, April 21, 2016

Musk wanted the first three models to spell S-E-X but settled with "S3X" since Ford owns the trademark to "Model E". However, the digit "3" will be stylized like three horizontal bars, making it indistinguishable from the "E" in Tesla's logo.^[301] After the Model Y is released, the four models will spell "S3XY".

Future models may also reach a 500-mile (800 km) range, partially because of a new patented battery system, pairing metal-air and lithium-ion batteries.^[302]

On July 20, 2016, Musk detailed his master plan for Tesla that has been in the works for 10 years. It includes the manufacturing of more affordable cars produced in higher volume, solar power roofs, mid-size vehicles, SUV's and pickup trucks, as well as the refinement of autonomous vehicles and the creation of a sharing economy, in which cars can be requested and driven while the owner is not using them.^[303] A Tesla Minibus would be built on the Model X platform.^[304]

Battery products

In April 2015, the company unveiled its Powerwall home and industrial battery packs,^{[305][306][307]} and quickly received orders to a total value of US$800 million.^[308] The two models included a 7 kilowatt-hour (kWh) wall-mounted unit and 10 kWh unit that cost less than the going rate for large-scale batteries for summer delivery. The company also announced larger-scale battery blocks for industrial users in units of 100 kWh. The company planned to open source its patents for the entire range. First battery customers include Green Mountain Power, which plans to resell them to customers that already have solar power.^[305]

Battery cells will initially be made by Panasonic. When production shifts to Reno (forecast for 2016 or 2017^[309]), Tesla expects costs to drop by 30%.^[305]

Some 62 megawatt-hours (MWh) of batteries and other energy-storage devices were installed in 2014 at 180 properties, at a value of about US$128 million, up 40% from the previous year, with sales expected to more than triple, to 220 MWh in 2015. In California, state rebates cover up to 60% of the battery price. Batteries that are connected to solar panels are also eligible for federal tax credits equal to 30% of the price.^[305]

In September 2016, Tesla announced it had been chosen "through a competitive process" to supply utility company Southern California Edison with 20 MW power (and 80 MWh energy) of battery storage. In May, regulators ordered Southern California Edison to invest in utility-scale battery networks after natural gas provider SoCal Gas leaked 1.6 million pounds of methane into the atmosphere when a well ruptured at its Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility.^[310]

Supercharger network

Tesla Model S charging at the Supercharger station in Delaware

In order to allow quick charging of Tesla cars, in 2012 Tesla Motors began building a network of 480-volt fast-charging Supercharger stations. As of 1 October 2016, there were 719 stations globally, with 4,428 chargers.^[23] The Supercharger is a proprietary direct current (DC) technology that provides up to 120 kW of power per car, depending on location, giving the 90 kWh Model S an additional 170 miles (270 km) of range in about 30 minutes charge and a full charge in around 75 minutes.^[23] A software update provided in 2015 to all Tesla cars uses demand information from each Supercharger station to plan the fastest route including stopping if charging will be necessary to reach the destination.^[311]

All Tesla cars come standard with the hardware required for Supercharging. Cars ordered after January 1, 2017 will get 400 kWh of free Supercharging credits (roughly 1,000 miles or 1,600 km) per year, with a charge for further kWh; cars purchased before that date will continue to get free Supercharging.^[312]

Battery swapping

Panoramic view of Tesla Supercharger rapid charging station in Tejon Ranch, California

Tesla designed its Model S to allow fast battery swapping. This feature facilitated the assembly process at the factory, as well as future distributed battery swaps for cars during their operational life.^[313] A survey in 2015 showed that most users were not interested,^[165] and only one facility (Harris Ranch) featured battery swapping as of 2016.

Destination Charging network

In 2014, Tesla discreetly launched the "Destination Charging Location" Network by providing High Powered Wall Chargers to high-end hotels, restaurants, shopping centres, resorts and other full service stations to provide on-site vehicle charging, twice the power of a typical charging location.^[314][315] In conjunction with the Supercharger Network, this new partnership allows Tesla's High Powered Wall Chargers to be where its customers spend the most time.^[316] On 25 April 2016, Tesla launched European destination charging, with 150 locations and more to be added later.^[317]

Facilities

Tesla Motors' headquarters are located in Palo Alto, California. As of August 2013, Tesla operates over 50^[318] company-owned showrooms worldwide.^[319] In July 2010, Tesla hired former Apple and Gap Executive George Blankenship as Vice President of Design and Store Development to build Tesla's retail strategy.^[320] He left the company in November 2013.^[321]

United States

New Tesla Model S cars at the Tesla Factory in 2012

Tesla was founded in San Carlos, California.^[322] In 2007, Tesla opened an office in Rochester Hills, Michigan.^[323] The office was later closed due to mounting losses at the time, most of the remaining employees returned to California while some moved into a smaller office in Auburn Hills, Michigan.^[324] Tesla opened these retail stores initially: in Los Angeles, on Santa Monica Boulevard in the Westwood neighborhood^[325] in April 2008; in Menlo Park, California in July 2008;^[326] a display showroom in New York City's Chelsea art district in July 2009; and later stores in Washington, DC, Chicago, Dania Beach, Florida, Boulder, Colorado, Seattle, Washington, San Jose, California and Denver, Colorado.^[99] In 2010, Tesla moved its corporate headquarters and opened a powertrain development facility at 3500 Deer Creek Road, in the Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto. It financed the project in part through US$100 million in federal low-interest loans. The new facility occupies 369,000 sq ft (34,300 m²) on a 23-acre (9.3 ha) parcel previously occupied by Agilent Technologies. About 350 employees were expected to be based at the Stanford site initially, potentially increasing to 650.^[327]

In 2015, Tesla bought Riviera Tool & Die (with 100 employees in Michigan), one of its suppliers of stamping items.^{[328][329][330][331][332][333]}

Tesla Factory

Tesla built its Model S assembly plant in California to a preliminary annual output of 20,000 sedans in 2010.^[334][335] It partnered with Toyota to produce the Model S at the former NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, which opened on October 27, 2010 and was renamed the Tesla Factory.^[336] In 2016 the plant was expected to produce some 80,000 cars with 6,000 workers compared to a "typical" plant that might produce 250,000 cars with 3,000 workers.^[337]

In June 2015, Tesla signed a lease to occupy a manufacturing building at 901 Page Avenue in Fremont, California. The building is more than 500,000 sq ft (46,500 m²) and was formerly used by Solyndra. The location is next to a SolarCity facility, a couple of miles from its existing car plant in Fremont.^[338]

GigaFactory

In August 2014 the company announced it would establish (in conjunction with Panasonic) a "gigafactory" battery manufacturing plant in the Southwest or Western United States by 2020. The US$5 billion plant would employ 6,500 people, and reduce Tesla's battery costs by 30%.^[339] On September 4, 2014, Tesla announced that Nevada would be the site for the battery factory;^[340] as of September 10, the Nevada legislature was debating $1.3 billion of tax incentives for the factory.^[341] Two days later, state lawmakers unanimously approved the plan.^[342] The factory, near Reno, Nevada, was slated to start production in 2016.^[309]

In July 2016, Tesla doubled the labor force working on the factory in an attempt to finish construction on a new and much tighter schedule. The company would like to have the factory ready for the launch of its Model 3. About 1,000 workers are working up to seven days a week to meet Tesla's plan to produce lithium-ion battery cells by early 2017.^[343]

Canada

Tesla Motors Store in Toronto

Tesla opened its first "new design" store in Canada on November 16, 2012 in the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The store features interactive displays and design studios which allow customers to customize the Model S and view the results on an 85-inch wall.^[344] As of August 2015, there are seven Tesla stores/galleries in Canada: one in Montreal, one in Quebec City, one in Calgary, two in Toronto, and two in Vancouver.^[345]

Europe

Tesla showroom in Munich, Germany

Tesla opened its first store in Europe in June 2009 in London's Knightsbridge district in the United Kingdom,^[346] followed by Munich in Germany in September.^[347] The London store relocated to the Westfield London Shopping Centre in October 2013.^[348] Tesla has 24 "galleries" and stores around Europe by the start of 2014.

Tesla's European headquarters are in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.^[349] The Roadster's chassis was assembled by Lotus Cars in Hethel, Norfolk, England.^[350] The 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m²) European distribution center and final assembly facility was established in 2013 in Tilburg in the Netherlands. Tesla's CEO confirmed in June its long-term plans to build a plant in Europe.^[351]

In November 2016 Tesla announced that they will acquire German engineering firm Grohmann Engineering and establish that as a new subdivision of the automaker dedicated to helping Tesla increase the automation and effectiveness of its manufacturing process. On this deal CEO Elon Musk said that "This will really be our first acquisition of significance in our whole history".^[352]

Asia

Tesla Motor's Japanese showroom in Aoyama, Tokyo, which was the first showroom opened in the country

Tesla opened its first Japanese showroom in Aoyama on November 2010.^[353] Another showroom was subsequently opened in Osaka.^[354] Roadsters sold in Japan were either in left- or right-hand drive configurations,^[355] although Model S vehicles will only be available in right-hand drive configurations by 2014.^[354] According to Kevin Yu, the director of Tesla Motors Asia Pacific, Roadsters in Japan sell at an average price of between ¥12,800,000 (about ) and ¥20,000,000 (about ).^[356]

Tesla Motors established a Hong Kong branch and showroom in 2011.^[357] Roadsters were previously sold in Hong Kong for HK$1,200,000.^[358] The Hong Kong showroom consists of a "Design Studio" where prospective buyers can design their vehicle on a large touchscreen.^[359] The official Hong Kong service center opened in September 2011.^[360]

A Tesla branch existed in Singapore from July 2010 to February 2011, but the company ceased its operations in the country due to a lack of tax exemptions.^[361][362] Without tax breaks, the Roadster retailed between S$400,000 and S$500,000 rather than the much lower price of S$250,000.^[362]

Tesla's Chinese website was launched on December 16, 2013 to sell the Model S and Model X and set a February 2014 date for the distribution of both vehicles in China. The launch followed the opening of a Tesla showroom in Beijing in November 2013.^[363]

Australia

Tesla Motors opened a showroom in Sydney in 2010.^[364][365] A Roadster was driven by Country Manager Jay McCormack along the entire eastern seaboard covering a distance of more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km), the longest distance traveled by an electric vehicle in Australia at the time.^[366]

Tesla Motors Australia opened its first Melbourne Store in Chadstone Shopping Centre in December 2014.^[367] A Signature Model S was driven by Shiny Things founder Mat Peterson from his home in Sydney to the Marriott Hotel in Melbourne, covering a distance of 436 miles (702 km), the longest documented distance traveled by a Model S at the time in Australia.^[368]

Tesla Motors Australia opened its second Melbourne store and first service center/Showroom in Melbourne at Richmond, Victoria in May 2015.^[369]

Partners

Unlike many traditional manufacturers, Tesla operates as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), manufacturing powertrain components for other automakers. Tesla has confirmed partnerships with Daimler and Toyota. It also works closely with Panasonic as a partner in battery research and development. The company also supplies battery packs for Freightliner Trucks' Custom Chassis electric van.^[370]

Daimler AG

Starting in late 2007, Daimler AG and Tesla began working together. The two companies were expected to collaborate further, including on the Tesla Model S sedan. On May 19, 2009, Daimler bought a stake of less than 10% in Tesla for a reported US$50 million.^[53][371] As part of the collaboration, Herbert Kohler, Vice President of E-Drive and Future Mobility at Daimler, took a seat on Tesla's board of directors.^[372] On July 13, 2009, Daimler AG sold 40% of its May acquisition to Aabar Investments PJSC. Aabar is an investment company controlled by the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which is wholly owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi.^[373][374] In March 2009, Aabar bought a 9% stake in Daimler for €1,95 billion. In October 2014, Daimler sold its remaining holding.^[375]

Mercedes-Benz A-Class

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive uses a battery pack developed by Tesla.^[376]

Tesla, in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz, is building electric powertrain components for the Mercedes-Benz A-Class E-Cell, an electric car with a range of 200 km (124 mi) and 290 N·m (214 ft·lbf) of torque. The 36 kWh battery would contain approximately 4,000 lithium-ion cells.^[377] Daimler was not expected to release the electric version outside Europe. The model was unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Only 500 cars would be built for trial in Europe beginning in September 2011.^[378][379]

Mercedes-Benz B-Class ED

Smart Fortwo

In January 2009, Tesla announced that it would produce the battery packs and chargers for an initial 1,000-unit test fleet of Smart EVs.^[380][54]

Toyota

On May 20, 2010, Tesla and Toyota announced a partnership to work on electric vehicle development, which included Toyota's US$50 million future conditional investment^[381] in Tesla and Tesla's US$42 million purchase of a portion of the former NUMMI factory.^{[54][238][240][382]} Tesla cooperated on the development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support. It was announced that an electric version of the Toyota RAV4 would be mass-produced in 2012 at Toyota's Woodstock, Ontario plant.^[383]

Toyota RAV4 EV

Toyota RAV4 EV second generation

Tesla Motors and Toyota announced in July 2010 an agreement to develop a second generation of the compact Toyota RAV4 EV. At the time, Toyota planned to introduce the model into the market by 2012.^[384] A second generation RAV4 EV demonstrator was unveiled at the October 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. Toyota built 35 of these converted RAV4s (Phase Zero vehicles) for a demonstration and evaluation program that ran through 2011. The lithium metal-oxide battery and other powertrain components were supplied by Tesla Motors.^[385][386] In August 2012, the production version RAV4 EV was unveiled; the battery pack, electronics and powertrain components are similar to those used in the Tesla Model S sedan launched in June 2012, and the Phase Zero vehicles used components from the Tesla Roadster.^[387][388]

Freightliner Electric Van

The company is supplying battery packs for Freightliner Trucks' Custom Chassis electric van.^[370]

Panasonic

Panasonic Energy Company President Naoto Noguchi presented Tesla CTO JB Straubel with the first production run of lithium-ion cells from Panasonic's facility in Suminoe, Japan.

On January 7, 2010, Tesla and battery cell maker Panasonic announced that they would together develop nickel-based lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles. Naoto Noguchi, President of Panasonic's Energy Company, said that the Japanese firm's cells will be used for Tesla's "current and next-generation EV battery pack."^[389] The partnership was part of Panasonic's US$1 billion investment over three years in facilities for lithium-ion cell research, development and production. Tesla disclosed that the new cell resulting from its collaboration with Panasonic will allow Tesla to continue using cells from multiple suppliers.^[390]

In April 2010, Noguchi presented Tesla Chief Technology Officer J. B. Straubel with the first production cells manufactured at the new facility in Suminoe, Japan. The Suminoe factory produced 3.1Ah battery cells, the highest energy density cells in the market. The facility produces more than 300 million cells per year.^[391] On November 5, 2010, Panasonic invested US$30 million for a multi-year collaboration on next generation cells designed specifically for electric vehicles.^[392]

In July 2014, it was announced that Panasonic has reached a basic agreement with Tesla Motors to participate in the Gigafactory, the huge battery plant that the American electric vehicle manufacturer is building in Nevada.^[393]

Airbnb

In August 2015, Tesla partnered with Airbnb to provide destination chargers at certain host houses, initially in California.^[394]

Lawsuits and controversies

Fisker Automotive

On April 14, 2008, Tesla Motors sued Fisker Automotive, alleging that Henrik Fisker "stole design ideas and confidential information related to the design of hybrid and electric cars" and was using that information to develop the Fisker Karma, which was announced at the North American International Auto Show in January 2008. Tesla had hired Fisker Coachbuild to design the WhiteStar sedan but dropped the design that Musk considered "substandard".^[395][396] On November 3, 2008, Fisker Automotive Inc. issued a press release indicating that an arbiter had issued an interim award finding in Fisker's favor on all claims.^[397] Tesla said the ruling was binding and that it would not pursue the case.^[397]

Founder dispute

The founding of the company was the subject of a lawsuit that was later dropped after an out-of-court settlement.^[398][399] On May 26, 2009, Eberhard filed suit in San Mateo County, California, against Tesla and Musk for slander, libel and breach of contract.^[400] Musk wrote a lengthy blog post that included original source documents, including emails between senior executives and other artifacts demonstrating that Eberhard was unanimously fired by Tesla's board of directors.^[95] On July 29, 2009, a judge in San Mateo County, California, Superior Court struck down a claim by former CEO Eberhard, who asked to be declared one of only two company founders.^[401] Tesla said in a statement that the ruling is "consistent with Tesla's belief in a team of founders, including the company's current CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk, and Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel, who were both fundamental to the creation of Tesla from inception."^[402] In early August, Eberhard withdrew the case,^[403] and the parties reached a final settlement on September 21. One public provision stated that the parties will consider Eberhard, Musk, Straubel, Tarpenning, and Wright to be the five co-founders. Eberhard also issued a statement about Musk's foundational role in the company: "As a co-founder of the company, Elon's contributions to Tesla have been extraordinary."^[404]

Top Gear

Tesla unsuccessfully sued British television show Top Gear for its review of the Roadster in a 2008 episode in which Jeremy Clarkson could be seen driving one around the Top Gear test track, complaining about a range of only 55 miles (89 km), before showing workers pushing it into the garage, supposedly out of charge. Tesla filed a lawsuit against the BBC for libel and malicious falsehood, claiming that two cars were provided and that at any point, at least one was ready to drive. In addition, Tesla claimed that neither car ever dropped below 25% charge, and that the scene was staged.^{[405][406][407][408]} On October 19, 2011, the High Court in London rejected Tesla's libel claim.^[409] The falsehood claims were also struck out by February 2012, with Justice Tugendhat describing Tesla's malicious falsehood claim as "so 'gravely deficient' it too could not be allowed to proceed."^[410] The Top Gear website posted a favorable review of the Model S in 2015,^[411] and the show (with new hosts) featured the Model X favorably in 2016.^[412]

Ecotricity

In early 2014, Tesla reportedly tried to break the exclusivity agreement their charging partner in the UK had for locations along the UK's highways; Ecotricity replied by taking an injunction against them.^[413][414] The dispute was resolved by an out of court settlement.^[415]

Cold weather

In early 2013, Tesla approached the New York Times to publish a story "Focused on future advancements in our Supercharger technology."^[416] In February 2013, the Times published an account on the newly installed Supercharger network on the I-95 highway between Boston and New York City. In it, the author describes fundamental flaws in the Model S sedan, primarily that the range was severely lowered in the below freezing temperatures of the American Northeast, and at one point the vehicle died completely and needed to be towed to a charging station.^[417]

After the story was published, Tesla stock dipped 3%.^[418] Three days later, CEO Elon Musk responded with a series of tweets, calling the article "fake",^[419] and followed up with a lengthy blog post disputing several of the claims of the original feature. He called it a "salacious story" and provided data, annotated screenshots, and maps obtained from recording equipment installed in the press vehicle as evidence that the New York Times fabricated much of the story.^[416]

[...] Instead of plugging in the car, he drove in circles for over half a mile in a tiny, 100-space parking lot. When the Model S valiantly refused to die, he eventually plugged it in.

— Elon Musk, A Most Peculiar Test Drive – Tesla Blog

In a statement, the Times stood by the accuracy of the story, calling it "completely factual."^[419] The author of the original piece John Broder quickly issued a rebuttal in which he clarified and refuted many of the accusations made by Musk.^[420]

[...] I drove around the Milford service plaza in the dark looking for the Supercharger, which is not prominently marked. I was not trying to drain the battery. (It was already on reserve power.) As soon as I found the Supercharger, I plugged the car in.

— John Broder, That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t — The New York Times

Further investigation was made by the media. Musk claimed "the Model S battery never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck." Auto blog Jalopnik contacted Rogers Automotive & Towing, the towing company Broder used. Their records showed that "the car's battery pack was completely drained."^[421] In his follow-up blog post, Broder stated "The car's display screen said the car was shutting down, and it did. The car did not have enough power to move, or even enough to release the electrically operated parking brake."

In the days that followed, NYT public editor Margaret Sullivan published an opinion piece titled "Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test". She concludes "In the matter of the Tesla Model S and its now infamous test drive, there is still plenty to argue about and few conclusions that are unassailable."^[422] No legal action was pursued by either organization.

Website and Twitter account compromised

On 25 April 2015 the website of Tesla Motors was compromised and defaced. At about the same time also Tesla's Twitter account was momentarily compromised, both in an apparent "unsophisticated prank".^[423][424]

Electrical consumption of Tesla Model S 2014 variant

In early March 2016, a report by Stuff magazine revealed that test performed by VICOM, Ltd on behalf of Singapore's Land Transport Authority had found a 2014 Tesla Model S to be consuming 444 watt-hours per kilometre (0.715 kW·h/mi),^[425][426] which was greater than the 236 watt-hours per kilometre (0.38 kW·h/mi) reported by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)^[427] and the 181 watt-hours per kilometre (0.291 kW·h/mi) reported by Tesla.^[428] As a result, a carbon surcharge of S$15,000 (US$10,900 at March 2016 exchange rate) was imposed on the Model S, making Singapore the only country in the world to impose an environmental surcharge on a fully electric car.^[429] The Land Transport Authority justified this by stating that it had to "account for CO₂ emissions during the electricity generation process" and therefore "a grid emission factor of 0.5g/watt-hour was also applied to the electric energy consumption",^[430] however Tesla Motors countered that when the energy used to extract, refine, and distribute gasoline was taken into account, the Model S produces approximately one-third the CO₂ of an equivalent gasoline-powered vehicle.^[428]

Later that month, the Land Transport Authority released a statement stating that they and the VICOM Emission Test Laboratory will be working with Tesla engineers to determine if there was a flaw in the test,^[431] and a Tesla statement indicated that the discussions were "positive" and that they were confident of a quick resolution.^[428]

SEC investigation

On July 11, 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla is being investigated by the U.S. SEC to see if the company should have disclosed a fatal crash involving its autopilot technology before the company sold more than US$2 billion worth of new shares to investors in May 2016.^[432] A separate SEC investigation closed "without further action" in October 2016 about Tesla's use of non-GAAP reporting; Tesla switched to GAAP-reporting in October 2016.^[433] SEC and companies increasingly use GAAP over non-GAAP reporting.^[434]

SolarCity acquisition shareholder litigation

In September and October 2016, seven lawsuits were filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware by stockholders of Tesla seeking to block the proposed acquisition of SolarCity. In October 2016, the Court consolidated the actions and appointed a lead plaintiff. The plaintiffs allege, among other things, that the Tesla board of directors breached their fiduciary duties in approving the acquisition and that certain individuals would be unjustly enriched by the acquisition. As of October 2016, the plaintiffs were seeking among other relief, damages in an unspecified amount and rescission of the acquisition.^[435] The acquisition was completed on November 17, 2016.

Product issues

Recalls

As of April 2016, Tesla has had three recalls for the Model S, two for the Roadster, and one for the Model X.^[261]

In May 2009, Tesla issued a safety recall for 345 Roadsters manufactured before April 22, 2009. Tesla sent technicians to customers' homes to tighten the rear, inner hub flange bolts. Using wording from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, Tesla told customers that without this adjustment, the driver could lose control of the car.^[436] The problem originated at the Lotus assembly line, where the Roadster glider was built. Lotus also recalled some Elise and Exige vehicles for the same reason.^[437]

On October 1, 2010, Tesla issued a second product safety recall in the US affecting 439 Roadsters. The recall involved the 12V low-voltage auxiliary cable from a redundant back-up system. The recall followed an incident where the low voltage auxiliary cable in a vehicle chafed against the edge of a carbon fiber panel, causing a short smoke and a possible fire behind the right front headlamp. This issue was limited to the 12V low-voltage auxiliary cable and did not involve the main battery pack or main power system.^[438]

On April 11, 2016, Tesla voluntarily recalled 2,700 Model X due to safety concerns. During collision testing, it was found that the third-row seats would unlatch and fold over to the second row. Tesla plans to fix this issue over the following five weeks and urged customers to avoid using the third row.^[439]

Crashes and fires

On October 1, 2013, a Model S caught fire after the vehicle hit metal debris on a highway in Kent, Washington. A Tesla spokeswoman confirmed the fire began in the battery pack and was caused by the "direct impact of a large metallic object to one of the 16 modules within the Model S battery pack." The company spokeswoman said that, "Because each module within the battery pack is, by design, isolated by fire barriers to limit any potential damage, the fire in the battery pack was contained to a small section in the front of the vehicle."^[440] The car owner was able to exit the highway, stop and leave the vehicle without injury, as instructed by the onboard alert system.^[441] Tesla's share price lost about 12% within two days and decreased the company's market capitalization by about US$3 billion.^[442] However, the share price increased about 4.5% three days after the crash.^[443]

Tesla said that a curved section fell off a semi-trailer and impaled the vehicle with a peak force on the order of 25 tons, creating a three-inch hole through the quarter-inch armor plate under the vehicle. A fire began in the front battery module, one of 16 such modules, but was contained within the front section by internal firewalls. Battery pack vents directed the flames down toward the road and away from the vehicle, and the passenger compartment was undamaged.^[441]

The company also said that conventional gasoline-powered cars were much more vulnerable to such a situation, because they have less underbody protection. It also noted that the battery pack holds only about 10% of the energy contained in a gasoline tank and is spread across 16 firewalled modules, meaning that the combustion potential is only about 1% as much. Elon Musk posted on his blog that, based on U.S. automobile miles-per-fire statistics from the National Fire Protection Association, a driver is "5 times more likely to experience a fire in a conventional gasoline car than a Tesla."^[441]

On November 6, 2013, a Tesla Model S on Interstate 24 near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, caught fire after it struck a tow hitch on the roadway, causing damage beneath the vehicle. Tesla stated that it would conduct its own investigation,^[444] and as a result of these incidents, announced its decision to extend its current vehicle warranty to cover fire damage.^[445]

On November 18, 2013, Tesla released a software update to the air suspension system to increase the ground clearance at highway speeds and requested that the NHTSA conduct an investigation into the fire incidents.^[446] On November 19, 2013, NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation to determine "the potential risks associated with undercarriage strikes on model year 2013 Tesla Model S vehicles." An estimated population of 13,108 Model S cars were part of this initial investigation.^[447][448] Another fire incident took place in Toronto, Canada, in early February 2014. The Model S was parked in a garage and it was not plugged in or charging when the fire started. As of February 14, 2014, the origin of the fire was still unknown.^[449] According to Tesla

"In this particular case, we don't yet know the precise cause, but have definitively determined that it did not originate in the battery, the charging system, the adapter or the electrical receptacle, as these components were untouched by the fire."^[450]

On March 28, 2014, the NHTSA announced that it had closed the investigation into whether the Model S design was making the electric car prone to catch fire, after the automaker said it would provide more protection to its lithium-ion batteries.^[451] All Model S cars manufactured after March 6 have the .25-inch (6.4 mm) aluminum shield over the battery pack replaced with a new three-layer shield designed to protect the battery and charging circuitry from being punctured even in very high speed impacts.^[452] The new shielding features a hollow aluminum tube to deflect impacting objects, a titanium shield to protect sensitive components from puncture damage, and an aluminum extrusion to absorb impact energy.^[453] The new shields, which decrease vehicle range by 0.1%, will be installed free-of-charge in existing Model S vehicles by request or during the next scheduled maintenance.^[454] According to the NHTSA, the titanium underbody shield and aluminum deflector plates, along with increased ground clearance, "should reduce both the frequency of underbody strikes and the resultant fire risk."^[451]

On June 30, 2016, media reports surfaced that the driver of a Model S had died in a collision with a tractor-trailer on May 7, 2016, in Williston, Florida, while the vehicle was in autopilot mode. The driver, Joshua Brown of Canton, Ohio, is believed to be the first person to have died in a Tesla vehicle in autopilot mode.^[455][456] Many news outlets referred to this accident as involving a self-driving car but the Tesla Model S is not self-driving as explained by Sterling Anderson, director of Tesla's Autopilot program, at MIT Technology Review's EmTech Digital conference in San Francisco when he said: "Autopilot is not an autonomous system and should not be treated as one," said Anderson. "We ask drivers to keep their hands on [the wheel] and be prepared to take over."^[457] CNN reported internal disagreement inside Tesla regarding the pace of development.^[458]

Delays

Tesla has been criticized for overpromising and underdelivering in a number of areas. Delivery dates for new vehicles and new vehicle features have slipped on the Roadster, the Model S and the Model X. Advanced technologies like the prospect of a large network of solar-powered supercharger stations (first installed 2012; only two are solar powered as of late 2014) and battery-swapping stations (first installed in 2013; none operational by 17 December 2014) are substantially behind.^[459]

Hacking

On August 6, 2015, it was reported that two researchers claimed to be able to take control of a Tesla Model S by hacking into the car's entertainment system.^[460] The hack required the researchers to first physically access the car.^[461] Tesla has issued a security update for the Model S after security researchers discovered six flaws that allowed them to control its entertainment software and hijack the vehicle.^[462]

On September 19, 2016, Keen Security Lab demonstrated a remote attack on a Tesla Model S and controlled the vehicle in both Parking and Driving Mode without any physical access by compromising the CAN bus and connecting the vehicle to a malicious Wi-Fi hotspot.^[463][464]

In a blog post on their website, Keen Lab wrote:

"As far as we know, this is the first case of remote attack which compromises CAN Bus to achieve remote controls on Tesla cars. We have verified the attack vector on multiple varieties of Tesla Model S. It is reasonable to assume that other Tesla models are affected."

This was the first case of a Remote control exploit demonstrated on a Tesla.The company has already deployed an over-the-air software update that addresses these potential security issues and issued the following statement:

"Within just 10 days of receiving this report, Tesla has already deployed an over-the-air software update (v7.1, 2.36.31) that addresses the potential security issues. The issue demonstrated is only triggered when the web browser is used, and also required the car to be physically near to and connected to a malicious wifi hotspot. Our realistic estimate is that the risk to our customers was very low, but this did not stop us from responding quickly.

We engage with the security research community to test the security of our products so that we can fix potential vulnerabilities before they result in issues for our customers. We commend the research team behind today's demonstration and plan to reward them under our bug bounty program, which was set up to encourage this type of research. "

Servicing

Tesla offers service at their service centers, or if a center is not available there are mobile technicians known as rangers that can perform most inspections and repairs. It is recommended to have any Tesla car inspected every 12,500 miles or once a year, whichever comes first.^[465] Early production is usually more flawed, and both the Model S and the Model X had several problems at the start of their production,^[466] but improved since then.^[467] As the Tesla vehicle fleet has grown, the amount of service centers has struggled to keep up while fixing the early flaws, resulting in waiting periods.^[468][469] Auto experts view the service delays as insignificant, as owners are more accepting of the challenges of making a new type of car production.^[468]

Tesla does not provide car service manuals except in places where they are legally required to.^[470]

Board of directors

As of 2014, the Tesla Motors board of directors consists of:^[471]

• Elon Musk—Chairman of the board of directors, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla; former President of PayPal, founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX; Chairman of the board, SolarCity
• Brad Buss—CFO of Cypress Semiconductor Corp
• Ira Ehrenpreis—General Partner, Technology Partners
• Antonio J. Gracias—CEO and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Valor Equity Partners
• Steve Jurvetson—managing director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
• Harald Kroeger—Mercedes-Benz Vice President, responsible for electrics and electronics
• Kimbal Musk—CEO of Medium, Inc., Co-founder Zip2
• Robyn Denholm—chief financial officer and Executive Vice President, Juniper Networks

See also

• Battery electric vehicle
• Gigafactory
• List of electric cars currently available
• List of modern production plug-in electric vehicles
• List of production battery electric vehicles

References

1. Martin LaMonica (2009-09-21). "Tesla Motors founders: Now there are five". CNET.
2. Tesla Motors (2016-02-10). "Tesla Motors, Inc. – Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2015 Update" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
3. Tesla Motors (2016-10-26). "Tesla Third Quarter 2016 Update" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
4. Jaisinghani, Sagarika; Banerjee, Arunima (2015-08-13). "Musk to invest $20 million in Tesla's $500 million share sale". Yahoo! Finance. Reuters.
5. Lambert, Fred (2016-11-25). "Tesla has now over 30,000 employees (25K in US) after SolarCity/other acquisitions". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
6. "2012 Form 10-K, Tesla Motors, Inc.". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
7. Hirsch, Jerry (2015-03-19). "Elon Musk: Model S not a car but a 'sophisticated computer on wheels'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
8. "Tesla delivers Model X electric SUV to take on luxury carmakers". Reuters. 2015-09-30.
9. "Tesla Motors - Premium Electric Vehicles". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
10. "The World's Only Electric Sports Car: 2010 Tesla Roadster". Sportscarmonitor.com. 2010-04-11. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
11. Sager, Rebekah (2013-07-01). "Tesla's Stocks Soar". First to Know. Retrieved 2013-07-11.
12. Tesla Motors (2013-05-08). "Tesla Motors, Inc. – First Quarter 2013 Shareholder Letter" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
13. Jeff Cobb (2015-12-15). "Tesla Model S Crossed 100,000 Sales Milestone This Month". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
14. Cobb, Jeff (2016-01-12). "Tesla Model S Was World's Best-Selling Plug-in Car in 2015". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
15. Cobb, Jeff (2016-08-01). "Renault Zoe and BMW i3 Join The 50,000 Sales Club". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2016-08-01. As of June 2016, cumulative global sales of the top selling plug-in electric cars were led by the Nissan Leaf (about 225,000), Tesla Model S (over 129,000), Votl/Ampera family (over 117,000), Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (about 107,000), Toyota Prius PHV (over 75,000), BYD Qin (56,191), Renault Zoe (51.193), and BMW i3 (almost 50,000).
16. "Model S". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
17. Hull, Dana (2016-04-07). "Tesla Says It Received More Than 325,000 Model 3 Reservations". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
18. Hirsch, Jerry; Fleming, Charles (2015-01-13). "Ramping up production of affordable Tesla may take years, Elon Musk.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-01-17.
19. Cobb, Jeff (2016-11-07). "China's BYD Becomes World's Third-Largest Plug-in Car Maker". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
20. Howell, Donna. "Tesla Motors Shows Electric Model X SUV; What Next?". investors.com. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
21. "Detroit Auto Show 2014: $40,000 'Model E' From Tesla Motors (TSLA) Will Have A 'Practical' Range, Says Company's Head of Global Sales". International Business Times. 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
22. Stephen Edelstein. "Tesla Model E To Debut at 2015 Detroit Auto Show?". Motor Authority. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
23. "Supercharger | Tesla Motors". www.tesla.com. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
24. "Destination Charging". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
25. "Why the Name "Tesla"?". Tesla Motors. Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
26. "Here's Why Tesla Motors Is Named for a Famous Serbian Inventor". businessinsider.in.
27. Michaels, Daniel (2010-01-14). "Long-Dead Inventor Nikola Tesla Is Electrifying Hip Techies". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
28. "Tesla Motors Moving Quickly to Commercialization of an Electric Car". GreenCar Magazine. 2009-07-09. Archived from the original on 2009-07-12. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
29. David Shepardson (2012-05-09). "Tesla to deliver first Model S electric by June". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
30. Chris Woodyard (2011-08-03). "Tesla boasts about electric car deliveries, plans for sedan". USA Today. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
31. Garthwaite, Josie (2011-05-06). "Tesla Prepares for a Gap as Roadster Winds Down". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
32. Dillow, Clay (2011-06-23). "Farewell Roadster: Tesla Will Stop Taking Orders for its Iconic EV in Two Months". Popsci.com. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
33. "Working for Tesla Motors – Engineering TV". Retrieved 2010-10-03.
34. "Tesla Motors Annual Report 2015". 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
35. "Tesla Showroom". Tesla Motors. 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
36. Boudreau, John (2012-06-22). "In a Silicon Valley milestone, Tesla Motors begins delivering Model S electric cars". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
37. "Tesla Signature series Model X to begin delivery September 29". CNBC. Reuters. 2015-09-03. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
38. Baker, David R. (2016-04-01). "Tesla Model 3 reservations top 232,000". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
39. Burns, Matt (2014-10-08). "A Brief History of Tesla". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2015-06-11. Tesla was founded not by Elon Musk, but rather by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in July 2003. The two bootstrapped the fledgling auto company until Elon Musk led the company's US$7.5 million Series A financing round in February 2004.
40. Musk, Elon (2006-08-02). "The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me) No. 124". Tesla Motors. Archived from the original on 2010-08-02. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
41. "Elon Musk Envisions Tesla Electric Car as Low as $20K: Cleantech News". Gigaom.com. 2008-09-17. Archived from the original on 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
42. "Germany Wakes Up to Tesla". Bloomberg Gadfly. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
43. Video on YouTube
44. "Supply agreement for products and services based on Lotus Elise technology". OneCLE. 2005-07-11. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
45. Bennett; Ahuja (2010-03-22). "Contract Amendment Number 2". EDGAR Online. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
46. Martin Eberhard (2007-08-07). "Martin Eberhard of Tesla Motors speaks to the Motor Press Guild" (Flash video). Retrieved 2008-06-22.
47. Ohnsman, Alan (2009-01-19). "Detroit Auto No-Shows Put Startups Fisker, Tesla in Spotlight". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
48. Baer, Drake (2014-11-11). "The Making Of Tesla: Invention, Betrayal, And The Birth Of The Roadster". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
49. Reed, John (2009-07-24). "A New Start: FT:Elon Musk's ground-breaking electric car". Xinkaishi.typepad.com. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
50. Vance, Ashley (2015-05-14). "Elon Musk's Space Dream Almost Killed Tesla". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
51. "Crunchbase Tesla Motors". Crunchbase.com. 2008-11-18. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
52. "Tesla debuts electric car for the masses". CBC News. 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
53. Arrington, Michael (2009-05-19). "Tesla Worth More Than Half A Billion Dollars After Daimler Investment". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
54. Davis, Joshua (2010-09-27). "How Elon Musk Turned Tesla Into the Car Company of the Future". Wired (magazine). Archived from the original on 2016-06-24. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
55. Baker, David R. (2016-05-31). "Elon Musk: Tesla was founded on 2 false ideas, and survived anyway". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
56. "Tesla gets long-awaited government loan". The Business Journals. Pacific Business news. 2009-06-24. Archived from the original on 2016-05-05. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
57. Cole, Jay (2013-05-22). "Tesla Repays Entire DoE Loan, Taxpayers MAKE $12 Million on the Deal". Inside EVs. Archived from the original on 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
58. "Tesla Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering".
59. Scholer, Kristen; Spears, Lee (2010-06-29). "Tesla Posts Second-Biggest Rally for 2010 U.S. IPO". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
60. Andrejczak, Matt (2010-06-28). "Tesla Motors revs up $244 million IPO". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
61. Lane, Charles (2014-03-12). "Tesla takes on car dealerships in a fight to the death". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
62. Hicks, Maurice (2014-12-15). "Summary of Fuel Economy Performance (Public Version)" (PDF). NHTSA/CAFE. p. 9. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
63. Goliya, Kshitiz; Sage, Alexandria (2016-05-04). "Tesla puts pedal to the metal, 500,000 cars planned in 2018". Reuters. US. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
64. Tesla Motors (2016-05-04). "Tesla shareholders letter:Tesla First Quarter 2016 Update" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
65. "Notice 2009-89: New Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit". Internal Revenue Service. 2014-08-15. Retrieved 2014-09-22.
66. Lambert, Fred (2016-05-06). "Tesla's new Model 3 production plan will optimize access to the federal tax credit". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
67. "GM vs Tesla -- Who Will Reach 200,000 US Electric Car Sales 1st?". CleanTechnica. 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2016-09-24. [credit phases out for a manufacturer's vehicles over the one-year period beginning with the second calendar quarter after the calendar quarter in which at least 200,000] cars sold in USA
68. Lambert, Fred (2015-06-02). "Complete breakdown of the $4.9 billion in government support the LA Times claims Elon Musk's companies are receiving". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
69. Damon, Anjeanette (2014-09-16). "Inside Nevada's $1.25 billion Tesla tax deal". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved 2016-11-03. the company must invest a minimum of $3.5 billion in manufacturing equipment and real property in the state. Five other states charge no sales tax at all and 34 states, including Arizona and Texas, don't charges sales tax on manufacturing equipment.
70. "Tesla Motors - Subsidy Tracker Summary". Archived from the original on 2016-11-26. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
71. Lambert, Fred (2016-11-25). "Tesla received only a fraction of the subsidies the Big Three and oil industry have received". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
72. "UPDATE 1-Tesla Motors raises more than $1 billion from debt, equity". 17 May 2013 – via Reuters.
73. Mead, Charles. "Tesla Raises $2 Billion With Convertible Debt to Finance Factory".
74. Hull, Dana. "Tesla Stock Sale Raises $738 Million as Banks Buy Option Shares".
75. Lambert, Fred (2016-06-16). "Tesla applied for a $106 million tax break on $1.26 billion expansion of Fremont Factory for the Model 3". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
76. "Tesla raises $1.46 billion in stock sale: IFR". 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-09-14 – via Reuters.
77. Claudia Assis; Jeremy C. Owens (2016-01-30). "Elon Musk exercises Tesla options, pays $50 million tax bill with own cash". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
78. Chris Ziegler (2016-01-29). "Elon Musk bought $100 million more worth of Tesla this week". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
79. "Tesla Motors Gross Profit Margin (Quarterly) (TSLA)". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on 2016-11-26. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
80. "Tesla's selling, general and administrative costs 2008-2015 - Statistic". Statista. Retrieved 2016-08-09.
81. Ferris, Robert; Wang, Christine (2016-08-03). "Tesla misses Wall Street targets, but logs gains in vehicle production". Retrieved 2016-09-14.
82. Tesla Motors (2015-05-06). "Tesla Motors – First Quarter 2015 Shareholder Letter" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-08-04. A total of 10,045 Model S cars were delivered globaly during the first quarter of 2015.
83. Tesla Motors (2015-08-05). "Tesla Motors – Second Quarter 2015 Shareholder Letter" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-08-04. A total of 11,532 Model S cars were delivered globally during the second quarter of 2015.
84. Tesla Motors (2016-08-04). "Tesla Motors – Third Quarter 2015 Shareholder Letter" (PDF) (Press release). Palo Alto, California: Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-11-03. Tesla global electric car sales totaled 11,603 units during the third quarter of 2015, including six Tesla Model X units.
85. Tesla Motors (2016-02-10). "Tesla Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2015 Update" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
86. "Tesla Second Quarter 2016 Update" (PDF) (Press release). Palo Alto: Tesla Motors. 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2016-08-03. During the second quarter of 2016 Tesla Motors delivered 14,402 new vehicles consisting of 9,764 Model S and 4,638 Model X. Production during 2Q 2016 totaled 18,345 vehicles.
87. "Tesla Q2 2016 Vehicle Production and Deliveries" (Press release). Palo Alto: Tesla Motors. 2016-07-03. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
88. "Tesla Third Quarter 2016 Update" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Palo Alto. 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
89. "Tesla CEO Elon Musk: Here's Why We Don't Report Monthly Sales Figures". 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
90. "Monthly Plug-In Sales Scorecard". 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
91. Robert Scardino (2009-07-17). "MSNBC Calls EV Drivers 'Lunatic Fringe'". AllCarsElectric.com. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
92. Welch, David (2007-07-30). "Tesla: A Carmaker With Silicon Valley Spark". BloombergBusinessweek. Archived from the original on 2014-09-14. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
93. "12 interesting things we learned from Tesla's Elon Musk this week". The Guardian. 2013-10-25. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
94. "Abu Dhabi Joins Feds as Tesla Backer". NBC Bay Area. 2009-07-14. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
95. "Soap Opera". Tesla Motors. 2009-06-22. Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2009-08-01. "Tesla Motors, Inc." consisted of Eberhard, Tarpenning and Wright, plus an unfunded business plan, and they were looking for an initial round of funding to create a more advanced prototype than the AC Propulsion Tzero. While there was a basic corporation in place, Tesla hadn't even registered or obtained the trademark to its name and had no formal offices or assets. To save legal fees, we just copied the SpaceX articles of incorporation and bylaws for Tesla and I invested $6.35M (98%) of the initial closing of $6.5M in Series A funding. Eberhard invested $75k (approximately 1%).
96. McAssey, Pat (2016-10-13). "Volkswagen CEO 'Annoyed Beyond Measure' That DHL Made Electric Van". NESN Fuel. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
97. Lambert, Fred (2016-02-26). "Tesla is now ~80% vertically integrated, says Goldman Sachs after a Tesla Factory visit". electrek.co. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
98. "Alternative Fuels Data Center: Developing Infrastructure to Charge Plug-In Electric Vehicles". afdc.energy.gov. United States Department of Energy. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
99. "Press Releases" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2009-06-04. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
100. Garthwaite, Josie (2009-01-13). "Tesla Has at Least One Smart Deal: Daimler". Earth2tech.com. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
101. "Dynamic list of all Tesla Motors patents and patent applications". Ip.com. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
102. Rogowsky, Mark (2013-08-24). "Numbers Don't Lie: Tesla Is Beginning To Put The Hurt On The Competition". Forbes. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
103. "Tesla's Rise Forces Other Automakers to Up Their Electric Car Game". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
104. Borroz, Tony (2010-02-19). "Tesla CEO Honored for 'Enlightened Vision'". Wired. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
105. Masters, Blake; Cauble, Matt (2014-10-07). "Peter Thiel – Lecture 5: Business Strategy and Monopoly Theory". genius.com. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
106. Hull, Dana (2012-01-17). "Tesla gears up to hire manufacturing workers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
107. Hull, Dana (2014-07-03). "2014: Tesla Motors on a mission to hire American veterans". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
108. Hull, Dana (2015-12-08). "Tesla Hopes Hiring 1,656 People Will Make It Profitable". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
109. "CBS Evening News". CBS. 2015-09-01. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
110. Hull, Dana (2014-11-11). "Veterans tour Tesla's Fremont factory". SiliconBeat. Retrieved 2014-12-07.
111. Bade, Gavin (2016-08-01). "Tesla agrees to $2.6B price tag for SolarCity merger". Utility DIVE. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
112. "Tesla's Acquisition of SolarCity Receives Shareholder Approval". Retrieved 2016-11-17.
113. "Early Christmas Present For Elon Musk As Shareholders Bless Tesla-SolarCity Merger". Forbes. 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
114. http://ir.tesla.com/secfiling.cfm?filingid=1193125-16-773705&CIK=1318605
115. "Does anyone know how many stores Tesla has over the years? • /r/teslamotors".
116. Number of Tesla Stores
117. List
118. Hull, Dana (2015-08-21). "Thanks for Buying a $100,000 Tesla. Want a Tote Bag With That?". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
119. "Tesla Accused of Operating Illegal Showrooms in 4 States". The Car Connection. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
120. Harry Stevens (2013-01-15). "Court Affirms Tesla's Right to Operate Company-Owned Stores". Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
121. Rogowsky, Mark (2013-12-04). "Ohio To Tesla: We're Ignoring Our Whiny Car Dealers For Now, Come Sell Here". Forbes. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
122. Borchers, Callum (2013-11-20). "Tesla battles auto dealers on direct sales to consumers - Business - The Boston Globe". Boston Globe.
123. John Voelcker. "Tesla Loses Legal Battles To Texas, North Carolina Dealers". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
124. "Model S Design Studio". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
125. Richard Read. "Terrified of Tesla, NADA Launches Campaign To Tout Benefits of Franchise Dealerships". The Car Connection. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
126. Dan Gearino. "Auto dealers in Ohio seek to stop Tesla's way of direct selling". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
127. O'Toole, James (2013-07-02). "Tesla direct-sales petition hits 100,000 signatures". CNN. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
128. Bradsher, Keith (October 13, 1999). "Fight Is Promised Over G.M. Plan to Buy Dealerships". The New York Times.
129. Christina Rogers (2013-10-07). "GM Opens the Door to Online New-Car Sales - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
130. Richard Read. "GM Follows Tesla's Lead, Plans To Sell Directly To Online Shoppers". The Car Connection. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
131. Bengt Halvorson. "Scion Lets You (Almost) Buy A Car at Home, Take Delivery at Dealership". The Car Connection. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
132. Voelcker, John (2012-10-25). "Auto Dealers' Fight Against Tesla Stores: Elon Musk Weighs In". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
133. David Noland. "How Texas's Absurd Anti-Tesla Laws Turn Car Buying into A Joke". Jalopnik. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
134. Chapman, Steve (2013-06-20). "Car buyers get hijacked". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
135. DeMorro, Christopher (2013-07-01). "Tesla Wins Big in North Carolina And New Hampshire". Gas 2. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
136. "Direct-to-consumer auto sales: It's not just about Tesla". Retrieved 2015-07-16.
137. Richard Read. "Can The FTC Persuade Michigan & Other States To Open Their Doors To Tesla?". The Car Connection. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
138. "Economic Effects of State Bans on Direct Manufacturer Sales to Car Buyers" Economic Analysis Group Competition Advocacy, May 2009.
139. Keller, Maryann; Elias, Kenneth (2014-05-27). "Consumer Benefits of the Dealer Franchise System". National Automobile Dealers Association. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
140. Nelson, Gabe (2014-10-06). "Tesla's trump card? Used cars". Automotive News. Retrieved 2015-07-07.(subscription required)
141. Joseph, Noah (2015-05-04). "Tesla starts selling used Model S EVs online". Autoblog.com. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
142. Caldwell, Jessica (2015-07-28). "Who Is the Used Tesla Model S Buyer?". Edmunds.com. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
143. "Pre-Owned Model S ; Tesla Motors". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
144. Halvorson, Bengt (2016-08-10). "Tesla Aside, Used Electric Car Resale Values Are Tanking". Car and Driver. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
145. "Pre-Owned Model S ; Tesla Motors Canada". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
146. "Gebrauchtes Model S ; Tesla Motors Österreich" (in German). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
147. "Model S d'occasion ; Tesla Motors Belgique" (in French). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
148. "Brugt Model S ; Tesla Motors Danmark" (in Danish). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
149. "Model S d'occasion ; Tesla Motors France" (in French). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
150. "Gebrauchtes Model S ; Tesla Motors Deutschland" (in German). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
151. "Pre-Owned Model S ; Tesla Motors UK". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
152. "Tweedehands Model S ; Tesla Motors Nederland" (in Dutch). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
153. "Brukt Model S ; Tesla Motors Norge" (in Norwegian). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
154. "Begagnade Model S ; Tesla Motors Sverige" (in Swedish). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
155. "Gebrauchtes Model S ; Tesla Motors Schweiz" (in German). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
156. Lambert, Fred (2016-07-13). "Tesla discontinues 'Resale Value Guarantee' program for new vehicles to focus on low interest rates". Electrek. US. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
157. Fisher, Thomas (2013-06-11). "What Goes into A Tesla Model S Battery--And What It May Cost". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
158. Weintraub, Seth (2016-07-28). "Tesla Gigafactory tour roundup and tidbits: 'This is the coolest factory in the world'". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
159. Ohnsman, Alan (2010-12-30). "Tesla Says Electric Car Battery Plan Means Profit at Low Volume". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
160. "Tesla Model 3 Pricing, Tesla Battery Price Down To $190/kWh". CleanTechnica. 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
161. Wesoff, Eric. "How Soon Can Tesla Get Battery Cell Costs Below $100 per Kilowatt-Hour?" Greentech Media, 15 March 2016.
162. Noland, David (2013-11-13). "How Tesla May Beef Up Its Model S Battery Protection System". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
163. Isidore, Chris (2013-06-21). "Tesla unveils 90-second battery-pack swap". CNN. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
164. Cunningham, Wayne (2014-12-19). "Tesla tentatively tests battery swap plan". CNET. Retrieved 2014-12-20.
165. Zhang, Benjamin (2015-06-27). "Tesla's battery-swapping plan isn't working out". Business Insider. US. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
166. "Tesla CTO: Tesla Batteries Expected To Last 10–15 Years At A Minimum". CleanTechnica. 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
167. "Why Vehicle-To-Grid & Used EV Battery Storage Isn't Logical". CleanTechnica. 2016-08-22. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
168. Jacques, Carole (2016-11-22). "Recycling, not Reuse, Is the Better Choice for Batteries from Retired Electric Vehicles". Lux Research. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
169. "Mythbusters Part 3: Recycling our Non-Toxic Battery Packs". Tesla Motors. Archived from the original on 2015-05-05.
170. Katie Spence (2014-02-09). "Will Battery Recycling Help Tesla Motors' Massive Shortcoming?". fool.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-19.
171. "The Electric Vehicle Battery 'Can And Should Be Recycled'". CleanTechnica.
172. Maria Gallucci (2014-06-13). "Tesla Motors Opens Patents: Elon Musk's Electric Cars Now Part Of 'Open Source Movement'". International Business Times. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
173. Musk, Elon (2014-06-12), "All Our Patent Are Belong To You", Tesla Motors, retrieved 2014-06-13
174. Eric Blattberg (2014-06-14). "Here's what Tesla's 'good faith' patent stance actually means". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
175. Jeff John Roberts (2014-06-14). "What Elon Musk did – and did not – do when he "opened" Tesla's patents". GigaOm. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
176. Isidore, Chris (2016-07-18). "Elon Musk says Autopilot upgrade could be coming". US: CNN. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
177. Musk, Elon (2016-07-17). "Twitter". Retrieved 2016-07-19.
178. Lawler, Richard (2014-10-09). "Riding shotgun in Tesla's fastest car ever". Engadget. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
179. "Tesla D is, as expected, an AWD Model S but new autopilot features surprise". AutoblogGreen. 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
180. Duggan, Wayne (2016-09-12). "Analyst: Tesla Autopilot's Switch From Camera To Radar Bad News For Mobileye". Benzinga. US. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
181. "Autopilot: Full Self-Driving Hardware on All Cars". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
182. Guess, Megan (2016-10-20). "Teslas will now be sold with enhanced hardware suite for full autonomy". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
183. Lambert, Fred (2016-10-20). "Tesla's software timeline for 'Enhanced Autopilot' transition means 'Full Self-Driving Capability' as early as next year". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-10-20. At "2 to 3 months from now", Tesla expects .. the new software validation for the Autopilot features
184. Golson, Jordan; Bohn, Dieter (2016-10-19). "All new Tesla cars now have hardware for 'full self-driving capabilities'". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
185. Muoio, Danielle (2016-11-01). "Elon Musk: Tesla is developing a special kind of glass for its Model 3". Yahoo News. Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
186. "Bob Lutz: The Man Who Revived the Electric Car | Newsweek Next 2008". Newsweek. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
187. Friend, Tad (2009-01-07). "Elon Musk and electric cars". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
188. Palmer, Annie (2016-08-05). "How Will Tesla (TSLA) Stock React to Mercedes New Electric Cars?". TheStreet.com. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
189. "Porsche Mission E Electric Car Production Set At 15,000 Annually". Retrieved 7 August 2016.
190. Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy and U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and (2016-09-14). "Find a car - Years: 2016–2017 - Vehicle Type: Electric". fueleconomy.gov. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
191. Fleming, Charles (2016-09-12). "Chevy Bolt EV range is 238 miles: Prime time for the electric car?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
192. "Tesla Delivers 14,820 Vehicles in Q1 2016; On Track for Full-Year Delivery Guidance". Tesla Motors (Press release). Palo Alto: Market Wired. 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2016-04-04. Tesla delivered 14,820 electric cars during the first quarter of 2016, consisting of 12,420 Model S vehicles and 2,400 Model X vehicles.
193. Mike Millikin (2015-09-30). "Tesla CEO Musk launches Model X electric SUV: "safest SUV ever"". Green Car Congress. Retrieved 2015-10-03. Six Model X were delivered in September 2015.
194. "SEC Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended Dec 31, 2012, Commission File Number: 001-34756, Tesla Motors, Inc.". SEC. 2016-02-06. Retrieved 2014-02-25. As of December 31, 2012, we had delivered approximately 2,450 Tesla Roadsters to customers in over 30 countries.
195. Young, Angelo (2016-04-04). "Tesla Motors (TSLA) 1Q 2016 Sales: 14,820 Model S, Model X Cars Were Delivered In First Three Months; Model S Sales Jumped 45%". International Business Times. Retrieved 2016-07-31. Since 2008 almost 125,000 all-electric cars had been sold by Tesla Motors at the end of March 2016.
196. Kane, Mark (2016-11-05). "World's Top 10 Selling EVs Led By The Tesla Model S After Strong September". EV Sales Blog. InsideEVs.com. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
197. Loveday, Eric (2016-10-07). "Global Tesla Fleet Surpasses 3 Billion Collective Miles Driven". Electrek. InsideEVs.com. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
198. "TIME Best Inventions 2006". Time. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
199. "Tesla Roadster 'Signature One Hundred' Series Sells Out". Megawatt Motorworks. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
200. "We have begun regular production of the Tesla Roadster". Tesla Motors. 2008-03-17. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
201. "Premium Electric Vehicles". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
202. "A fast food morning with the Tesla Roadster Sport". Boing Boing. 2009-11-05. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
203. "Tesla Unveils Roadster 2.5 at Newest Stores in Europe and North America" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
204. "Tesla will build right-hand-drive Roadsters for the UK". Wired.co.uk. 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
205. Dillow, Clay (2011-06-23). "Farewell Roadster: Tesla Will Stop Taking Orders for its Iconic EV in Two Months". Popular Science. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
206. Valdes, Peter (2011-06-22). "Tesla Roadster reaches the end of the line". Autos. Yahoo!. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
207. King, Danny (2012-01-11). "Tesla continues Roadster sales with tweaks in Europe, Asia and Australia". Autoblog Green. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
208. Gordon-Bloomfield, Nikki (2012-01-12). "Tesla Updates Roadster For 2012. There's Just One Catch...". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
209. Vijayenthiran, Viknesh (2015-07-22). "New Tesla Roadster Due in 2019: Official". Autocar. US. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
210. Todd Woody (2012-07-25). "Tesla Hits Accelerator Despite Q2 Revenue Miss". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-07-25. More than 2,350 units sold through June 2012.
211. Tesla Motors (2012-11-05). "Tesla Q3 report: $50M revenues, $111M GAAP net loss, 253 Model S delivered in Q3". Green Car Congress. Retrieved 2012-11-06.Sales during the 3Q 2012: 68 Roadsters and 253 Model S.
212. Tesla Motors (2013-02-20). "Tesla Motors, Inc. – Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2012 Shareholder Letter" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2013-02-13. A total of 22,477 Model S sedans were sold worldwide in 2013.
213. Cobb, Jeff (2014-01-16). "Top 6 Plug-In Vehicle Adopting Countries". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2016-08-29. Around 1,800 Tesla Roadsters and 1,600 Fisker Karmas had been sold in the U.S. by the end of 2013.
214. "Tesla's Tests Confirm Roadster's 245-Mile Range". Electronic design. 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
215. tsport100 (2011-01-05). "New World Record: Tesla Roadster Goes 347.2 Miles On One Charge". Electric Vehicle News. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
216. O'Dell, John. "Tesla Roadster Logs New Record of 313 Miles on Single Charge in Oz Green Rally". Edmunds. Green Car Advisor. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
217. "Tesla Roadster Sport Specs". Motor Trend. 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
218. Michael Graham Richard (2008-06-30). "Tesla's Next Electric Car to be Called "Model S", New Factory to Open in North California". TreeHugger.com. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
219. Monticello, Mike (2008-10-23). "Tesla Builds a 4-Door – New and Future Cars". Road & Track. Hachette Filipacchi Media, U.S., Inc. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
220. Ingram, Antony (2013-08-07). "First 2013 Tesla Model S Delivered Outside North America--In Oslo". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
221. Makinen, Julie (2014-04-22). "Tesla delivers its first electric cars in China; delays upset some". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-05-07.
222. Trop, Jaclyn (2014-02-19). "Loss Tapers at Tesla as Its Sales Still Climb". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
223. "EPA rating for 85 kWh Tesla Model S: 89 MPGe, 265-mile range". Green Car Congress. 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
224. John Voelcker (2012-12-07). "Tesla Model S 60-kWh Version: EPA Range Rated At 208 Miles". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
225. "Tesla Motors Model S". Tesla Model S. Official Site. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
226. O'Kane, sean (2016-06-09). "Tesla just released two cheaper versions of the Model S". The Verge. US. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
227. Mark Rogowsky (2014-01-16). "Tesla Sales Blow Past Competitors, But With Success Comes Scrutiny". Forbes. Retrieved 2014-01-17. Almost 18,000 units were sold in the U.S. in 2013.
228. Jeff Cobb (2015-02-11). "2014's Top-10 Global Best-Selling Plug-in Cars". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2015-02-11. Global cumulative sales since June 2012 totaled 56,782 units by the end of 2014.
229. Cobb, Jeff (2016-11-02). "October 2016 Dashboard". HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
230. Jeff Cobb (2014-01-06). "December 2013 Dashboard". HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates. Retrieved 2015-07-06. An estimated 18,650 Model S sedans were sold in the U.S. in 2013, and about 2,620 in 2012. See section "December 2013 Plug-in Electric Car Sales Numbers"
231. Angelo Young (2014-08-14). "Tesla in Norway: 436 Model S Sedans Are Being Delivered Monthly In Tesla's Largest Overseas Market". International Business Times. Retrieved 2014-09-15.
232. Ståle Frydenlund (2014-01-02). "7.882 nye elbiler registrert i 2013" [7882 new electric cars registered in 2013] (in Norwegian). Norsk Elbilforening (Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association). Retrieved 2016-03-13. Model S sales in Norway during 2013 totaled 1,986 units.
233. Frydenlund, Brett; Haugneland, Peter (2016-01-06). "Nesten 26.000 nye elbiler i fjor" [Nearly 26,000 new electric cars last year]. Norsk Elbilforening (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2016-04-03. Model S sales in Norway totaled 4,040 units in 2014, and 4,039 units in 2015.
234. Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) (2016-11-01). "Bilsalget i oktober" [Car sales in October] (in Norwegian). OFV. Retrieved 2016-11-04. Click on "Modellfordelt" to display the top 20 selling new cars in Norway: Tesla Model S registrations totaled 1,740 new units during the first ten months of 2016.
235. Grønn bil (2013-10-01). "Norges mest solgte bil i september er en elbil" [Norway's best selling car in September is an electric vehicle]. Grønn bil (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2013-10-02.
236. Mat Gasnier (2013-10-02). "Norway September 2013: Tesla Model S in pole position!". Best Selling Cars Blog. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
237. John Voelcker (2013-10-01). "Tesla Model S Was Best-Selling Car in Norway For September". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
238. Lindsay Riddell (2010-05-20). "Tesla to buy NUMMI plant, build cars with Toyota". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
239. Ricketts, Camille (2010-05-27). "Tesla paid $42M for NUMMI but doesn't have deal to build cars with Toyota". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
240. "Tesla Wants NUMMI Operational By 2012". KVTU.com. 2010-05-21. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
241. "Tesla unveils world's first mass-produced highway-capable EV" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2009-03-26. Archived from the original on 2011-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
242. Michiel Willebrands (2013-08-22). "Tesla opent assemblagecentrum in Tilburg" [Tesla opens assembly center in Tilburg]. Auto Week Netherlands (in Dutch). Retrieved 2013-10-07.
243. "Model S Motor Trend Car of the Year Award 2013". Motor Trend. Retrieved 2012-11-12.
244. "And Now There Is One.... Tesla Model S Declared 2013 World Green Car". International Business Times. PR Newswire. 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
245. Zenlea, David (2012-11-01). "2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S". Automobile Magazine. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
246. "Best Inventions of the Year 2012—$22,000–$750,000—The Tesla Model S". Time. 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
247. Staff (2015-06-23). "Tesla Model S one billion miles". Western Morning News. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
248. Jeff Cobb (2015-06-23). "Happy 3rd Birthday Tesla Model S: Fleet Is First To Travel One Billion Miles". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
249. "Tesla officially opens Model S and X sales in Spain, deliveries starting in Q1 2017 [Updated]".
250. Garrett, Jerry (2012-02-09). "Tesla Unveils Model X at Its Southern California Design Studios". The New York Times. Wheels blog. Retrieved 2012-02-23.
251. "Tesla Officially Unveils New Model X, Crossover EV". KeyNoodle. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
252. White, Ronald D. (2013-03-08). "Tesla plans to repay loans early, delays Model X". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
253. Cole, Jay Cole (2013-03-09). "Tesla Delays Model X Production To "Late" 2014". InsideEVs.com. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
254. "Model X". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
255. Fehrenbacher, Katie (2013-08-07). "Record sales, upbeat Q2 earnings for electric car maker Tesla". Gigaom. Retrieved 2013-08-08. expect to deliver small numbers [of the Model X] at end of 2014, with volume production in 2015.
256. Young, Angelo (2013-11-06). "Tesla Model X Release Date: Superficial Production Next Year; Deliveries To Customers In Full Effect Later". International Business Times. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
257. Cobb, Jeff (2014-02-19). "Tesla Posts Strong Q4 Earnings; Projects More Growth This Year". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
258. Sebastian Blanco (2014-11-05). "Tesla Model X delayed, again, but Musk says Model S demand remains high". Autoblog Green. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
259. "Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) Model X Pre-Orders Cross 30,000 Units". businessfinancenews.com. The table formed by TMC reveals that the electric vehicle (EV) company has received 30,027 Model X reservations worldwide. -- The sedan was able to receive only 12,000 pre-orders ahead of its launch.
260. Kane, Mark (2016-09-14). "Tesla Model X Crosses The 10,000 Sold Mark". InsideEVs.com. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
261. Fehrenbacher, Katie (2016-04-11). "Tesla Recalls 2,700 Model X Cars for Seat Problem". Fortune. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
262. Cobb, Jeff (2016-09-01). "Americans Buy Their Half-Millionth Plug-in Car". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2016-09-16. See graph: Top-10 selling plug-in electrified cars in the United States.
263. Cobb, Jeff (2016-10-04). "September 2016 Dashboard". HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
264. Cobb, Jeff (2016-11-02). "October 2016 Dashboard". HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates. Retrieved 2016-11-04. Tesla sales for 3Q 2016 have been restated based upon information provided from the company corresponding to U.S. sales during 3Q 2016. Tesla reported 9,156 Model S and 5,428 Model X sold during the third quarter of 2016. The combined effect of both models totaled 1,116 less units than originally estimated, so the revised current-year-to-date figure for sales through September is 108,397 units. The revised CYTD figure for Model S is 20,856 and 12,328 for the Model X. October sales figures already reflect this adjustment.
265. Cobb, Jeff (2016-10-11). "Almost Half The Cars Bought In Norway Last Month Were Electrified". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
266. Fred Magne Skillebæk (2016-10-11). "Bilsalget september 2016 - Full fart forover!" [Car sales in September 2016 - Full speed ahead!]. Dinside.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2016-10-11.
267. Jose, Pontes (2016-10-12). "Norway September 2016". EVSales.com. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
268. Musk, Elon (2014-08-15). "Elon Musk Tweets name confirmation". Tweet.
269. Tesla Motors (2014-07-16). "Confirmed: Our Gen III car, due out after Model X, will be named Model 3.". Twitter. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
270. Voelcker, John (2016-03-27). "Here's the Tesla Model 3 reservation agreement for Thursday". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
271. Edelstein, Stephen (2015-03-30). "Tesla pushes investors for a gigafactory in Japan". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
272. "Tesla Model 3: Elon Musk unveils the Model 3 to huge fanfare". LA Times. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
273. "Model 3 Reservation Deposit". www.tesla.com. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
274. "Tesla Model 3: tens of thousands reportedly reserving the $35,000 car without having seen it". Electrek.
275. Stoll, John (2016-02-10). "Tesla's Musk: Model 3 Orders Surpassed 115,000 Within 24 Hours". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
276. By Dana Hull, Bloomberg. "Tesla Says It Received More Than 325,000 Model 3 Reservations." April 7, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
277. Sommer, Lauren (2016-04-18). "A Rare Look Inside The 'Gigafactory' Tesla Hopes Will Revolutionize Energy Use". NPR. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
278. Kwong, Phoenix (2016-04-28). "China second-largest market for Tesla's Model 3 car". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
279. Cole, Jay (2016-05-18). "Tesla, Musk Plan $2 Billion Stock Sale To Build Model 3, 373,000 People Reserved". InsideEVs.com. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
280. Hull, Dana (2016-05-18). "Tesla to Sell $1.4 Billion in Shares for Expanded Production". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
281. The Tesla Team (2016-04-07). "The Week that Electric Vehicles Went Mainstream". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
282. Randall, Tom (2016-04-21). "Ten Charts That Will Make You Rethink Tesla's Model 3". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
283. "This is Tesla's Model 3". TechCrunch. AOL. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
284. "New Model 3 will extend Tesla's reach into India, Brazil and other global markets". TechCrunch. AOL. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
285. O'Kane, Tony (2015-09-04). "Tesla Model 3 Will Go on Sale in 2017 As Most Affordable Tesla". The Motor Report. Retrieved 2015-09-15.
286. Randall, Tom (2016-03-16). "Wall Street Tours the Tesla Factory—and Loves What It Sees". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
287. "Is Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) Mobility A Future Prospect Or Morgan Stanley's Fantasy?". businessfinancenews.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Mr. Musk has said that the company wouldn't be profitable unless its sells 500,000 vehicles annually by 2020. 500,000 vehicle deliveries is the 2020 goal that is purely dependent on Tesla's much affordable, compact EV, the Model 3, which is slated for 2017-end and reliant on the under-construction battery producing factory.
288. Morris, Charles (2015-10-22). "Tesla shifts focus to Model 3 as engineers prepare to start work at the Gigafactory". Charged EVs. Retrieved 2015-11-07.
289. Video on YouTube
290. Randall, Tom (2016-07-27). "Elon Musk Says It's 'Pencils Down' for Tesla's Model 3". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
291. Young, Angelo (2014-09-18). "Elon Musk Joins Self-Driving Car Chorus". Investing.com. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
292. "With $350M Infusion, Tesla Adds Minivans, Crossovers, and Fleet Vans to Line of EVs". Fast Company. 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
293. Diarmuid O'Connell (2009-09-28). "Tesla: Clearing the Air on our DOE Loan". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
294. Abuelsamid, Sam (2010-06-21). "Breaking: Tesla shows future products, liquid cooled motor and electronics in IPO road show — Autoblog Green". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
295. "Tesla CEO Elon Musk Talks Future Plans amid COTY Award". automotive.com. 2012-11-13. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
296. Ballaban, Michael (2015-07-17). "The Tesla Model S Just Got Upgraded to LUDICROUS SPEED". Jalopnik. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
297. Warren, Tamara (2015-10-06). "Elon Musk just teased the Model Y in a tweet (which he immediately deleted)". The Verge. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
298. "Model Y". TradeMarkia. 2015-08-25. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
299. Valle, Marius (2016-04-21). "Elon Musk: - Derfor har ikke Tesla satset på hydrogenbiler" [Elon Musk: Why Tesla did not opt for hydrogen cars]. Teknisk Ukeblad. Retrieved 2016-04-21. The plan with Model 3 has been to make a car that half of us can afford. The next car should be one everyone can afford, according to Musk.
300. "Elon Musk: Tesla Plotting Gen 4 Model That Everyone Can Afford".
301. Randall, Tom (2016-03-30). "Elon Musk wanted to name his Model 3 Model E so Tesla's brands would spell SEX. This and other secrets about his newest car". Financial Post. US. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
302. Jon Fingas, Jon (2015-09-26). "Elon Musk hopes to conquer electric car range limits by 2020". Engadget. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
303. Ferris, Robert (2016-07-20). "Musk Sees Tesla's Future: Trucks, Transit and Solar in a Push to Sustainability". CNBC. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
304. Lampert, Fred (2016-07-29). "Tesla will leverage the Model X chassis to build its 'Minibus', says Elon Musk". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
305. Berzon, Alexandra; Sweet, Cassandra (2015-05-01). "Tesla CEO Elon Musk Unveils Line of Home and Industrial Battery Packs". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2015-05-02.
306. Kaufman, Alexander C. (2015-05-01). "Tesla's New Home Battery Could Be The iPad of Energy Storage". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
307. Castelvecchi, Davide (2015-05-04). "Will Tesla's Battery for Homes Change the Energy Market?". Scientific American. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
308. Randall, Tom (2015-05-08). "Tesla's Battery Grabbed $800 Million in Its First Week". Bloomberg. US. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
309. Shahan, Zachary (2015-02-15). "Tesla Gigafactory Now on Schedule For 2016, Not 2017". Solar Love. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
310. Megan Geuss, Ars Technica. "SoCal utility will buy 80MWh of battery storage from Tesla after methane leak." Sept. 16, 2016. Sept. 16, 2016.
311. "Tesla Motors". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
312. "An Update to Our Supercharging Program". Tesla Motors. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
313. Sebastian Blanco (2009-09-27). "REPORT: Tesla Model S was designed with battery swaps in mind". Autoblog Green. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
314. "Destination Charging". US: Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
315. Hull, Dana (2014-08-24). "Tesla rolls out "Destination Charging" program at hotels, restaurants and resorts". Silicon Beat. US. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
316. Lavrinc, Damon (2014-08-28). "Tesla Rolls Out 'Destination Charging' At Resorts And Restaurants". Jalopnik. US. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
317. "Tesla Introduces Destination Charging in Europe". 2016-04-25.
318. Stewart, James B. (2013-08-23). "Wondering if Tesla Can Get There From Here". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
319. Dudley, Brier (2009-05-21). "Business & Technology: Tesla announces showroom in Seattle". The Seattle Times. NW source. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
320. "Tesla stores to borrow from Apple's magic". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on 2012-01-25. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
321. Hull, Dana. "2013: Top Tesla Motors executive George Blankenship departs". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
322. Marshall, Matt (2016-06-02). "2006: San Carlos start-up Tesla seeks sexier electric car". Mercury News. San Jose, California. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
323. Blanco, Sebastian. "Official announcement on Tesla's Michigan Technical Center". Autoblog. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
324. Szczensy, Joseph (2009-01-15). "Tesla will keep Michigan office open". Oakland Press. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
325. "Tesla Store Los Angeles". Tesla Motors.
326. "press releases" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2008-07-22. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
327. "Tesla moving headquarters and powertrain operations to Palo Alto ". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
328. "Tesla acquires Michigan-based auto supplier". Detroit News. 2015-05-07. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
329. "First look inside new Tesla plant in West Michigan". WOODTV.com.
330. Video on YouTube
331. "Riviera Tool Company". Thomson Gale. 2006. Archived from the original on 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
332. Capabilities
333. Equipment
334. "Press Releases" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2009-06-23. Archived from the original on 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
335. Yoney, Domenick (2009-04-27). "Tesla Motors buying Long Beach Boeing building?". Autoblog Green. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
336. "Opens Tesla Factory – Home of the Model S" (press release). Tesla Motors. 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
337. Burrows, Peter (2016-10-11). "Elon Musk's House of Gigacards". Technology Review. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
338. Avalos, George (2015-06-11). "Tesla lease in Fremont helps city's economy rebound". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
339. "Gigafactory battery plant planned by Tesla in tie-up with Panasonic". San Diego News.Net. 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
340. "Nevada Selected as Official Site for Tesla Battery Gigafactory". Tesla Motors. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
341. "Nevada governor orders extra session for B deal to land Tesla electric car battery plant". Fox Business. 2014-09-10. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
342. "Nevada lawmakers approve billion in tax breaks for electric car maker Tesla". Reuters. 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
343. Ferris, Robert (2016-07-25). "Why Tesla is hurrying to finish the 'gigafactory'". CNBC. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
344. "Tesla Motors opens first Canadian store" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2012-11-16. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
345. "Tesla Motors Find Us". Tesla Motors. 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
346. Leeds, Samson (2009-06-28). "Tesla opens Flagship Euro Store in London". Top Car Zone. Sablog zone. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
347. "Green Autoblog". green.autoblog.com. September 10, 2009. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
348. "ACTUAL ARTICLE TITLE BELONGS HERE!". London Evening Standard. October 24, 2013. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
349. "Contact". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
350. Sibley, Lisa (2011-06-17). "Lotus to supply more Tesla Roadster bodies". San Jose Business Journal. Silicon Valley. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
351. Klayman, Ben (2014-06-12). "Tesla CEO says electric carmaker plans European plant: report". Reuters. Retrieved 2014-11-06.
352. Etherington, Darrell (2016-11-08). "Tesla acquires Grohmann engineering to boost production". Tech Crunch. US. Retrieved 2016-11-08.
353. Chester Dawson & Yoshio Takahashi (2010-11-15). "Tesla Plans Japan Push". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
354. Schmitt, Bertel (2013-06-12). "Unhindered, Tesla Opens Second Showroom in Japan". The Truth About Cars. Archived from the original on 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
355. "Tesla Opens Tokyo Aoyoma Showroom". Tesla Motors. 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
356. Bethros, Chris (2011-03-31). "Socket to 'Em". Metropolis Japan. Archived from the original on 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
357. "Tesla Motors Opens Showroom and Service Center in Netherlands (TSLA)". The Stock Market Watch. 2011-09-28. Archived from the original on 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
358. Oliver, Ben. "The Future Is Here – the Tesla Roadster, Page 3". Hong Kong Golfer. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
359. "TESLA MOTORS MODEL S MAKES ITS ASIAN DEBUT IN HONG KONG". Tesla Motors. 2013-01-08. Archived from the original on 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
360. "Tesla Motors to Open Service Center in Hong Kong". Energy Trend. 2011-09-22. Archived from the original on 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
361. Hooi, Joyce (2011-02-17). "Tesla pulls the plug on Singapore". Asia One Motoring. Archived from the original on 2012-07-12. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
362. Radu, Mihnea (2011-02-16). "Tesla Motors Is Leaving Singapore". Auto Evolution. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
363. Shu, Catherine (2013-12-16). "Tesla Launches Chinese Site As It Prepares To Sell Its Electric Cars in China". TechCrunch. Aol Inc. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
364. Terry Martin (2010-03-18). "Tesla set to launch Roadster EV in Australia this year". Go Auto. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
365. "Tesla Roadster Approved for Australian Roads". Business Wire. 2011-01-11. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
366. Razagui, Haitham (2011-05-09). "Tesla EV charges from Melbourne to Port Douglas". Go Auto. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
367. Collet, Trevor (2014-12-27). "Tesla Motors Australia Opens First Melbourne Store". The Motor Report. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
368. Peterson, Mat (2015-04-03). "Sydney to Melbourne - Day 2". tumblr. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
369. Maric, Paul (2015-04-30). "Tesla to open new showroom and service centre in Richmond". Car Advice. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
370. "Tesla Motors to Provide Batteries for Freightliner Custom Chassis Electric Van". Motor Trend. WOT. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
371. Godske, Bjørn (2010-05-21). "Toyota buys $50mio stake in Tesla". Ing.dk. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
372. "Press Releases" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2009-05-19. Archived from the original on 2009-05-22. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
373. Atkins, Thomas (2009-07-13). "UAE'S Aabar buys 40 pct of Daimler's Tesla stake". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
374. "Aabar Daimler Press Release, 2009" (PDF). aabar.com.
375. Mike Ramsey. "Daimler sells Tesla stake for $780 Million". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
376. Jeffrey N. Ross (2012-10-04). "Mercedes B-Class headed to America... but only as an EV?". Autoblog.com. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
377. "Mercedes-Benz Electric Car by Tesla Test Drive –Video Tesla Mercedes-Benz A Class". The Daily Green. 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
378. "Mercedes-Benz Introduces the Battery-Powered A-Class E-CELL; Production Run of 500". Green Car Congress. 2010-09-15. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
379. Masson, Laurent J (2011-03-29). "Quick Drive: Electric Mercedes A-Class E-Cell". Plugin Cars. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
380. Squatriglia, Chuck (2009-01-13). "Tesla Motors Joins Daimler on a Smart EV | Autopia". Wired. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
381. "Press Releases" (Press release). Tesla Motors. Archived from the original on 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
382. Tierney, Christine (2010-05-20). "Toyota invests in Tesla to help reopen Calif. plant". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
383. Batcho-Lino, Stefanie (2011-08-05). "Toyota, Tesla to Build Rav4 Electric Vehicle at Ontario Plant". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
384. Abuelsamid, Sam (2010-07-16). "Breaking: Tesla and Toyota to develop RAV4 EV, hope to launch in 2012 — Autoblog Green". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
385. "Toyota unveils RAV4 EV demonstration vehicle; targeting fully-engineered version in 2012 for market". Green Car Congress. 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
386. Tellem, Tori (2010-11-17). "2012 Toyota RAV4-EV: Take Two". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
387. "Toyota RAV4 EV key for meeting California ZEV requirements; Tesla powertrain uses Model S components". Green Car Congress. 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
388. Garrett, Jerry (2012-08-03). "Toyota and Tesla Trot Out the RAV4 EV". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
389. Gupta, Poornima (2010-01-07). "Tesla, Panasonic partner on electric car batteries". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
390. "Tesla & Panasonic Make It Official, Buddy Up for Batteries: Cleantech News". Gigaom.com. 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
391. "Panasonic Presents First Electric Vehicle Battery to Tesla" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2010-04-22. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
392. "Panasonic invests $30m in Tesla". Added latest investment in tesla. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
393. "Panasonic, Tesla agree to partnership for US car battery plant". Nikkei Inc. 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
394. Kaufman, Alexander C. (2015-08-24). "Tesla Wants To Take Stress Out of Vacationing with an Electric Car". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
395. Korzeniewski, Jeremy (2008-04-15). "Tesla files suit against Fisker Automotive". Autoblog. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
396. Migliore, Greg (2008-04-16). "Tesla sues Fisker, alleges theft of trade secrets". AutoWeek: News & Views. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
397. LaMonica, Martin (2008-11-04). "Tesla Motors loses trade secrets case against Fisker". CNET News. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
398. Eberhard v. Musk, Case No.: CIV-484400 (Superior Court of the State of California County of San Mateo 2009-07-29) (“From defendand's filing: "During a conversation with Musk in 2003, JB Straubel ("Straubel"), who later became Tesla's Chief Technology Officer, learned of Musk's interest in the development of an all-electric automobile. Following this conversation, he introduced Musk to Tom Gage and Al Ciccone at AC Propulsion, a company that had built an all-electric concept sports car call the Tzero. Musk was enthusiastic and encouraged Gage and Ciccone to put the Tzero concept into production. Though Musk was unable to persuade AC Propulsion to mass produce the Tzero, Gage offered to give Musk's contact information to two groups who did have such an interest, one of which included Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning ("Tarpenning"), and Ian Wright ("Wright").”).
399. Fehrenbacher, Katie (2009-06-14). "Tesla Lawsuit: The Incredible Importance of Being a Founder". Earth2tech. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
400. Martin Eberhard lawsuit (PDF), San Mateo County, CA
401. "Superior Court of California". County of San Mateo. 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
402. "Judge Strikes Claim on Who Can Be Declared a Founder of Tesla Motors". Business wire. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
403. Squatriglia, Chuck (2009-08-19). "Eberhard Says 'Uncle' in Tesla Lawsuit". Wired. Autopia. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
404. "Tesla Motors founders: Now there are five". CNET. 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
405. "Tesla sues Top Gear for libel, New Stig unavailable for comment (update: BBC responds)". Engadget. 2011-03-30. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
406. Wilman, Andy (2011-04-02). "Tesla vs Top Gear: Andy Wilman on our current legal action". Top Gear. Transmission. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
407. "BBC denies rigging Top Gear Tesla Roadster car race". Newsbeat. BBC. 2011-03-30. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
408. Vaughan, Adam (2011-03-30). "Tesla sues Top Gear over 'faked' electric car race". The Guardian. Environment. London. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
409. "Tesla losing Top Gear court challenge". The Independent. 2011-10-21. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
410. Plunkett, John (2012-02-23). "Top Gear libel case over Tesla electric sports car struck out". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
411. Philip, Sam (2015-05-11). "First drive: Tesla Model S P85D". BBC Top Gear. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
412. "TGTV s23: Rory Reid in the Tesla Model X". Top Gear. 2016-11-03. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
413. Vaughan, Adam (2014-05-23). "Tesla Motors accused of bullying to grab key car charging sites in the UK". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
414. Green, Chris (2014-06-12). "Misdirected email sparks electric car war between Tesla and Ecotricity". The Independent. UK. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
415. Bennett, Peter (2015-06-17). "Tesla and Ecotricity reach out of court settlement over Electric Highways dispute". Next Energy News. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
416. "A Most Peculiar Test Drive – Tesla Blog". Retrieved 2015-02-19.
417. Broder, John M. (2013-02-08). "Stalled Out on Tesla's Electric Highway – The New York Times". Retrieved 2015-02-19.
418. Farrell, Maureen (2013-02-11). "Tesla stock dips on poor Model S review". US: CNN. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
419. Welch, Chris (2013-02-11). "Tesla CEO Elon Musk accuses New York Times of lying about Model S range anxiety". The Verge. US: Vox Media. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
420. Broder, John M. (2013-02-14). "That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn't — The New York Times". Retrieved 2015-02-19.
421. "Towing Company: The NYT Tesla Model S Was Dead When It Was On The Flatbed". Retrieved 2015-02-19.
422. Sullivan, Margaret (2013-02-18). "Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-02-19.
423. Smith, Dave (2015-04-25). "Tesla's website has been hacked". uk.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
424. Plaugic, Lizzie (2015-04-25). "Hackers temporarily take control of Tesla's website, Elon Musk's Twitter account". The Verge. Retrieved 2015-04-26.
425. "Be prepared for these roadblocks if you want to drive a Tesla in Singapore | Stuff". www.stuff.tv. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
426. "LTA on Tesla: CO2 emissions for electric cars start at power grid". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
427. "Gas Mileage of 2014 Tesla Model S". www.fueleconomy.gov. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
428. "Here's how clean a Model S is in Singapore (and elsewhere)". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
429. hermes (2016-03-04). "Electric car Tesla slapped with $15,000 tax surcharge". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
430. "LTA on Tesla: CO2 emissions for electric cars start at power grid". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
431. "Singapore's LTA says the Tesla Model S it tested was a used car, hence its low efficiency". Tech in Asia. 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
432. Kiss, Jemima (2016-07-11). "Tesla under investigation by SEC after fatal crash involving autopilot – report". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
433. Shumsky, Tatyana (2016-11-29). "SEC Criticizes Tesla Over 'Tailored' Accounting". WSJ. Archived from the original on 2016-11-29. Retrieved 2016-11-29. The SEC has judged the matter resolved without further action, according to an Oct. 12 letter the regulator sent to the company.
434. "Firms Say Goodbye to Prettied-Up Financial Reports". WSJ. 2016-08-29. Archived from the original on 2016-11-29. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
435. "Lawsuits are piling up against Tesla (TSLA) over the SolarCity (SCTY) merger, Tesla says 'without merit'". Electrek. 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
436. Ashe, Suzanne (2009-05-28). "Tesla Motors recalls electric Roadster". CNET. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
437. "2009 Lotus Elise Recalls—2009 Lotus Elise Recall Reports". Motor Trend. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
438. "Tesla Initiates Voluntary Recall After Single Customer Incident" (Press release). Tesla Motors. 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
439. "Tesla Recalls Model X Third-Row Seats After Failed Strength Testing". Teslarati. US. 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
440. Christopher Jensen (2013-10-02). "Tesla Says Car Fire Started in Battery". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
441. Steven Russolillo (2013-10-04). "Musk Explains Why Tesla Model S Caught on Fire". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
442. Jensen, Christopher (2013-10-02). "Forbes: The Tesla Fire Is A Textbook PR Problem — And They Should Fix It". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
443. "Tesla Motors Inc: NASDAQ:TSLA". Google Finance. 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
444. Jaclyn Trop (2013-11-07). "Another Fire Raises Questions for Tesla". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
445. John Voelcker (2013-11-19). "Tesla Fires: NHTSA Will Probe, Warranty To Cover Fire Damage, Ride-Height Tweak". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
446. Musk, Elon (2013-11-18). "The Mission of Tesla". Tesla Blog. Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
447. Eric Loveday (2013-11-19). "NHTSA Opens Formal Investigation into 13,108 Model Year 2013 Tesla Model S Sedans Sold in US (Update)". InsideEVs.com. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
448. Bill Vlasic and Jaclyn Trop (2013-11-19). "After 3 Fires, Safety Agency Opens Inquiry into Tesla Model S". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
449. Linette Lopez (2014-02-13). "Another Tesla Caught on Fire While Sitting in a Toronto Garage This Month". Business Insider. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
450. Alan Ohnsman (2014-02-14). "Tesla Investigating Cause of Fire in Toronto With Model S". Boomberg. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
451. Danielle Ivory (2014-03-28). "Federal Safety Agency Ends Its Investigation of Tesla Fires". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
452. George, Patrick (2014-03-28). "The Tesla Model S: Now With Road Debris-Crushing Titanium!". Jalopnik. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
453. Musk, Elon (2014-03-28). "Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S". Tesla Blog. Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
454. Blanco, Sebastian (2014-03-28). "Tesla adds free titanium underbody shields to Model S to prevent fires". Autoblog Green. AOL Inc. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
455. Bill Vlasic and Neal E. Boudette (2016-06-30). "Self-Driving Tesla Was Involved in Fatal Crash, U.S. Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
456. "Preliminary Report, Highway HWY16FH018". NTSB. 2016-07-26. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
457. Simonite, Tom (2016-05-24). "Tesla Tests Self-Driving Functions with Secret Updates to Its Customers' Cars". MIT Technology Review. US. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
458. "Elon Musk's push for autopilot unnerves some Tesla employees". CNNMoney. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
459. Lavrinc, Damon (2014-12-17). "What Will Tesla And Elon Musk Over Promise Next?". Jalopnik. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
460. Masunaga, Samantha (2015-08-06). "Researchers hack a Tesla Model S, bring car to stop,". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
461. Mahaffey, Kevin (2015-08-06). "The new assembly line: 3 best practices for building (secure) connected cars". Lookout. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
462. O'Connor, Fred (2015-08-07). "Tesla patches Model S after researchers hack car's software". Wired. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
463. "Car Hacking Research: Remote Attack Tesla Motors". Retrieved 2016-09-21.
464. Lambert, Fred (2016-09-20). "First Tesla Model S remotely controlled by hackers, Tesla already pushed a fix". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
465. Service plans | Tesla Tesla Motors, Retrieved September 12, 2016.
466. "Consumer Reports Car Reliability Survey 2016". Consumer Reports. 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2016-10-24. When a car model is brand new or “completely redesigned,” that can mean new parts, new systems—and new problems.
467. Dow, Jameson (2016-10-26). "Tesla says it reduced Model X issues by 92% amid criticism from Consumer Reports". Electrek. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
468. "Tesla Motors Service Delays Have Little Or No Effect On The Brand". The Country Caller. 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2016-11-21. Despite such poor servicing of vehicles, Blue Book’s Karl Brauer believes that there has not been a big effect on the Tesla brand as early owners are not completely dependent on their Model S sedans and Model X SUVs. Dunne Automotive President, Michael Dunne, believes that the owners are well aware of such issues before buying a Tesla car as they know “they are part of this experience of the first breakthrough electric vehicles.”
469. "Tesla Service Center Stats". Tesla Motors Club. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
470. Tatarevic, Bozi (2015-10-15). "Tesla Doesn't Want You to Work on Its Cars". The Truth About Cars. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
471. "Board of Directors". Tesla Motors. Retrieved 2014-01-14.

Further reading

• Vance, Ashlee (2015). Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future. Virgin Books. ISBN 9780753555620.

External links

• Tesla Motors – official site
• Tesla Motors – official Vimeo page
• Tesla 2016 Master Plan, Elon Musk, 20 July 2016.

• • Business data for Tesla Motors: Google Finance
  • Yahoo! Finance
  • Reuters
  • SEC filings