In 2008, Tesla took a big step forward in the automotive industry by introducing the Roadster, the first all-electric sports car. With its impressive performance and range, this car attracted the opinion of many experts and customers and proved that electric cars can be a serious competitor to gasoline cars.

Tesla continued its innovation and development process and in 2013, it once again revolutionized the industry with the introduction of the Model S, its first all-electric luxury sedan. This car has become the most popular electric car in the world with its beautiful design, spacious interior, and excellent performance. Tesla Model S achieved such popularity that year in competition with cars from the Mercedes Benz S Class sedan family BMW 7 Series and any other luxury sedan; Despite these news-making successes in the 2000s, it is interesting to know that the story of Tesla Motors began in 1990.

Today, Tesla is known as one of the most valuable automotive brands in the world and has become a symbol of innovation, creativity, and commitment. Offering a wide range of electric vehicles, energy storage batteries and solar panels, the company is working to create a cleaner and more sustainable future for the planet.

Tesla’s story is an inspiring story of courage, creativity, and perseverance. This story shows how by relying on new ideas and continuous effort, you can achieve great goals and change the world around you.

Elon Musk is the most famous CEO of Tesla, but Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpening were the first CEOs of Tesla and one of the founders of the company. Today, many people know Tesla by the name of Elon Musk, and he as the founder of this company. But the fact is that in the beginning, Elon was just a series A investor and a big supporter of this project. He sat on the chairman’s chair as the fourth chief executive officer of Tesla.

Eberhard and Tarpening met in the 80s and founded a company called Nuvomedia in 1997. This company was a pioneer in the field of producing e-readers and released a product called “Rocket Ebook” to the market. Tarpenning was the CEO and Eberhard was the chief technology officer of this company.

The idea of ​​establishing Tesla was formed from Martin’s interest in sports cars; He thought about buying sports cars for several reasons, but decided against it because:

• These cars had high fuel consumption and consumed 13 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers, which was not economical at all.
• In those years, due to the war in the Middle East region, the price of oil and gasoline had increased significantly.
• Global warming was also considered a serious problem that buying such a car could accelerate its process.

Eberhard thought about buying an electric car like the EV1, but these cars were collected from the market. In the early 2000s, the state of California passed a zero-emission vehicle law aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. The law required automakers to allocate 10 percent of cars sold in California to zero-emission models by 2010; But some automobile companies such as General Motors, Toyota, and Honda were against this law and considered it too strict and detrimental to the automobile industry.

At that time, electric cars did not have the appropriate speed and efficiency, and Eberhard investigated all types of fuel, from hydrogen fuel cells to diesel, diesel, and natural gas. In electric cars, electricity may be generated from coal, natural gas, or oil. Eberhard and Mark concluded with various studies that electric cars are better than any other vehicle; But the problem was that Eberhard and Tarpenning had worked together in the hardware department and had no experience in the automotive field.

Before founding Tesla, Eberhard searched the Internet to see if there was a company that made an electric car. In those years, not all the big companies had entered the field, but a small company in Southern California called AC Propulsion had produced three hand-built cars of a special model called the tzero, which passed the initial ideas to Eberhard and his later colleagues. The tzero proved that a high-speed electric car could be produced, but the idea still needed to be nurtured. After contacting them, Eberhard learned that the small company had lost almost all of its revenue after the zero-emission car law was repealed. Therefore, Eberhard took action and by investing in this company, he asked them to build a car for him.

The car made by this company was equipped with a sensitive and dangerous type of battery that used lead plates and sulfuric acid to generate electricity, so it had a very short range. Eberhard suggested that they use lithium-ion batteries instead. As a result, with more investment, cars equipped with lithium-ion batteries were built. After Eberhard and Tarpening found the right battery for use in electric vehicles, they looked for a way to fully build these vehicles with the right range and capability.

Eberhard’s ideas and his attempt to collaborate with AC Propulsion were not successful and as a result he decided to start his own company. At that time, Eberhard asked himself that if electric cars were a feasible idea, why the car manufacturing giants had not entered this field.

The truth is that General Motors has already tried to enter the commercial electric vehicle industry by investing billions of dollars and building a prototype called EV-1, but its attempt was not successful.

Tesla Motors did not have foreign investors in the beginning. Eberhard and Tarpening used their capital and the help of their friends and family members to establish this company and continue working. They were also connected to the venture capital (VC) community, especially those who had benefited from previous investments. A point that should be noted is that in large investment funds with several partners, some kind of consensus or agreement between all partners is needed for financing. In other words, if the investment fund has five partners, all of them must agree with the investment or at least none of them have veto rights; Because even if one of them disagrees, the investment is rejected.

Unfortunately, Eberhard and Tarpening did not have the power of influence and persuasion to convince all partners. The funny thing is that they would go to these companies and completely convince their respective technology experts there so that they fully understood the idea; But in the end, their biotech specialist was vetoing the investment, and that’s where Elon Musk stepped in. Eberhard and Tarpening had previously met him in 2001 at a conference on the exploration and habitation of Mars. Therefore, knowing him and considering the lack of success with other investors, they decided to meet with Musk again.

Elon Musk had an important difference from other investors, he was trying to build a spaceship; Therefore, building an all-electric car was not a strange thing for him. Musk was very receptive to their idea and after the initial agreement between Elon Musk, Eberhard, and Tarpening, Musk invested $6.35 million of his own money in Tesla on April 1, 2004, and was elected as the chairman of the board in addition to the partnership.

The design of Tesla Motors’ first car was very important. They were looking for a car that didn’t scream electric at first glance. Eberhard held numerous meetings with various individuals and design companies, especially the Lotus design team, to convey his vision to them. Finally, Bill McGridge and IDEO had a good meeting with Eberhard and prepared some preliminary designs for him. The co-founder of Tesla Motors, at a party attended by company members and consultants, asked them about the initial plans. The final design of the Roadster was chosen at the same meeting.

Tesla unveiled the Roadster prototype in 2006. This initial unveiling caused all-electric sports cars to gain many fans before being released to the market. At an event for the initial unveiling of this car that was held in Santa Monica on July 10, 2006, exciting things happened. This event was widely welcomed by the media, investors and people. Many people were surprised to see an electric car with this level of performance and appeal, But the most interesting event was the presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger in this event.

Eberhard and Tarpening regularly held meetings to demonstrate and explain various electric vehicle prototypes. The main purpose of doing such work was to maintain communication with customers and accompany them along this path. Eberhard and Tarpening didn’t know exactly when the final product would be on the market, and they were very open about it. Various people and even some Tesla investors registered their names on the waiting list by paying $100,000.

Eberhard and Tarpenning didn’t have a pre-written marketing plan to sell their electric cars, but seeing the influx of customers and the interest they showed in buying an electric car got them thinking. Therefore, they were looking for a way to satisfy their customers and their commitment to them.

Eberhard and Tarpenning faced many technical challenges in the roadster production process; The most difficult and surprising challenge that they did not expect to happen was the problem of getting parts from suppliers. They wanted to use standard technologies to build their electric car, and by coming up with more exotic ideas, they faced more risk. In the early stages of roadster development, Tesla faced many challenges in sourcing safety components such as airbags, seat belts, and door locks.

In the summer of 2007, Martin Eberhard was fired as CEO of Tesla and left the company a few months later. Elon Musk eventually became the fourth CEO of the company and has held this position since 2008.

Eberhard and Tarpening left Tesla when the Roadster was almost finished, and there was only one very annoying problem with the transmission and some power electronics changes that nearly killed the company; It was one of those near-death experiences for the company. They were transitioning all the engineers to the new sedan project, which they had been working on on a limited basis for about a year before. As engineers were released from the Roadster design team, they moved on to the Model S project.

Note that Elon Musk did not immediately take over the management of Tesla after Eberhard was fired. Tesla’s board initially hired former Flextronics CEO Mike Marks in a meeting. During his tenure as CEO of Tesla, Mike Marks overcame many of the company’s early challenges. He had a good track record in the previous company and understood executive management in the full sense. Many of Tesla’s additional projects and early financial challenges fell through during Marx’s brief tenure, and he was ousted in November 2007; Zev Drury , the former CEO of Clifford Electronics, then replaced Marks as CEO.

Finally, in October 2008, after the roadster was completed and released to the market, Elon Musk became the CEO of Tesla Motors and laid off 25% of the company’s workforce. By that time, he had invested 55 million dollars in the company.

In 2009, Daimler AG joined Tesla’s investors. However, the economic crisis of 2008 had also put pressure on Tesla Motors and they were looking for new capital to escape. By paying $50 million and acquiring a 10% stake in Tesla Motors, Daimler overcame many financial challenges. In 2010, Elon Musk decided to go public with Tesla shares, which went uphill from the beginning. The company’s stock went public on the Nasdaq on June 29, bringing $226 million in new capital to Tesla. In the same year, the Japanese auto industry giant, Toyota, decided to invest in Tesla and started a public partnership with the American brand to produce electric cars and related parts by paying $50 million.

The important move of Tesla Motors in the direction of car production took place on October 27, 2010. The American company moved to a new factory in Fremont, California, which was previously jointly owned and operated by General Motors and Toyota. Mass production of the Model S began at the same factory, and later models, the Model X and the Model 3, were quickly added to the production line.

After the Roadster, Tesla started building a very important car; the Tesla Model S. The Model S was known as the WhiteStar before it was released to the market. Finally, the wait was over and this car was launched in 2012 and created a revolution in the electric car industry. At that time, most electric cars were still expensive and small and could not travel a long distance after each battery charge; But the Model S was a different type of car. This model was a stylish five-door sedan with a range of 426 km, whose speed could reach 96 km/h in 3.9 seconds. In this sense, the acceleration of the Tesla Model S car was almost equivalent to the acceleration of the Lamborghini Murciélago and the maximum speed that this car could reach was 209 km/h.

Model S not only had excellent performance but also had very high safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awarded the Model S a five-star rating in all subcategories.