Tesla Motors

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Tesla Motors, Inc.

Type	Startup
Founded	2003
Headquarters	San Carlos, California
Key people	Martin Eberhard (CEO) Elon Musk (Chairman of the Board)
Industry	Automotive
Products	Tesla Roadster
Employees	120 +
Website	http://www.teslamotors.com

Tesla Motors, Inc. is a Silicon Valley automobile startup company focusing on the production of high performance, consumer-oriented electric vehicles. The firm was started in 2003 by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in San Carlos, and has since grown to include several team members with extensive computer, electrical, and automotive engineering backgrounds from around the world. The company is named after the Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla.

1 Financing
2 Planned models
3 Partners
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Financing

Initial investment came from PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, who became Tesla's Chairman of the Board, leading Tesla's first two rounds and co-leading the third together with VantagePoint Venture Partners. Tesla's third round also included investment from prominent entrepreneurs, such as Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and former eBay president, Jeff Skoll.

[edit] Planned models

Tesla Motors' first production vehicle, the Tesla Roadster, will be a performance sports car. According to the company, the cars will have a range of 250 miles (400 kilometers), acceleration from 0 to 60 MPH in 4 seconds, and a top speed of 130 MPH. Prototypes were introduced to the public in July 2006, and the first production models are planned for summer 2007. Demand was high for the first 'Signature One Hundred' Roadsters, which sold out in less than three weeks. According to a note on the company's web site, as of November 2006 the full run of the "2007 1/2" model have been sold out, constituting 220+ cars.

Tesla plans to offer home roof mounted solar-photovoltaic systems that will offset power used by the home charger, allowing 50 miles (80 kilometers) of travel without burdening the power grid, and thus making the package "energy positive" for a driver whose average daily mileage is less than that.

Tesla is also currently working on an unannounced sedan, codenamed "White Star", which may be introduced as early as 2009. It is being designed as an alternative to the BMW 5 Series, with an estimated price of $50,000-70,000.[1]

[edit] Partners

Tesla has a significant relationship with Lotus. A design contest was held for the final styling of the Tesla Roadster, then codenamed Dark Star, which Lotus's design studio won. The roadster is based on a modified Lotus Elise chassis, and includes other components from the Elise. Lotus will also assemble the car in England.

Telsa Motors has also licensed key technologies from AC Propulsion, including a modified drivetrain.