What is Tesla?
Tesla is a revolutionary company that specialises in electric cars, solar panels and energy storage. Based in Palo Alto, California, the company was founded in 2003 by Elon Musk, JB Strabel, Marc Tarpenning, Martin Eberhard and Ian Wight, under the name Tesla motors.
Who is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk, is an American businessman, born in South Africa. With a strong educational background in physics, including a PhD in applied physics and material science from Stanford University, Musk’s business interests follow his scientific background.
His first successful business was Zip2, a software company, whose sale earned him around $22 million. Musk’s next project, PayPal, the worldwide electronic payment system, proved to be his next success. Its sale in 2002 brought Musk $165 million.
Following up on the success of his previous projects, Musk founded SpaceX, focused on aerospace and space travel, in 2001, then Tesla in 2003. His additional businesses include SolarCity, Hyperloop, OpenAI, Neuralink, The Boring Company and Thud.
Elon Musk was listed by Forbes in 2018 as the 53rd richest person in the world, with a total net worth of $20.8 billion.
What’s the story behind the company?
Tesla has accelerated the world's transition to sustainable energy, the primary focus of the company is to develop reliable, sustainable alternatives to traditional power sources. Known best for their vehicle range, Tesla also focuses heavily on energy storage and solar panel manufacturing.
The company’s first car, the Roadster was launched in 2008 and featured Tesla’s battery technology and electric powertrain. Since that time, the company has gone on to develop a number of other electric-powered vehicles and expanded their charging network worldwide.
Tesla designs and produces electric cars that successfully compete with gasoline-powered cars, but without emissions to the atmosphere. The company’s luxury segment includes the Tesla Model S, Model X and Roadster cars, while the Tesla Model 3 represents a more affordable, mass-market vehicle. Additionally, the company is working on the creation of a lorry, known as the Tesla Semi said to be ‘the safest, most comfortable truck ever’ and also energy efficient.
The company’s ‘Energy’ segment focuses on home and commercial sustainable energy generation and story, this section includes solar panels, a power wall, a solar roof, commercial solar energy and utilities services.
Tesla’s website features an active carbon dioxide (CO2) counter, illustrating the levels of the gas saved by Tesla’s vehicles. At the start of May 2018, this was estimated at around 3,344,940 tons. To put this in perspective, an average coal-fired power plant emits approximately 4.6 million tons of CO2 a year.
What’s the latest company news?
Tesla is heavily affected by emerging competitors in the electric car industry. Recent estimates state that by 2022, more than 100 electric cars will become available. For example, Volvo has already committed to an all hybrid or electric car range by 2019.
Company shares also suffered after a Tesla auto-piloted car crashed on an American highway in 2016, marking the first fatal accident with an autonomous vehicle. Despite the auto-pilot component, the car requires drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. Tesla defended the vehicle suggesting driver misuse, and that while the system reduces the likelihood of a crash, it is unable to fully prevent it from happening.
In addition to the negative news about the company, Tesla in 2018 broke new ground. In combination with SpaceX, a Tesla car was launched into space inside Musk’s revolutionary rocket, the Falcon Heavy.
Where is Tesla traded?
Since its initial listing in 2010, when 13,300,000 shares were made available at an initial public offering (IPO), the Tesla share price has been marked by remarkable highs and lows. Tesla shares are traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker TSLA. Keep up to date with the latest Tesla share price with Capital.com and follow the TSLA charts to stay on top of the company’s price movements.