Elon Musk & Colleagues Found Tesla Motors

In July 2003 by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors (later Tesla, Inc.), naming the company after inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla. The next three employees were Ian Wright, Elon Musk, and J. B. Straubel, all of whom are named as co-founders of the company. Musk, who became CEO, said in 2006 that "the overarching purpose of Tesla Motors...is to help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy." He intended for the company to build a wide range of electric vehicles, including "affordably priced family cars", and also market solar panels to generate solar energy.

Prototypes of the Tesla's first car, the Roadster, based on the Lotus Elise chasis, were officially revealed to the public on July 19, 2006. Tesla began production of the Roadster in 2008.

In May 2010 Tesla purchased what would become the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California, for $42 million, and opened the facility in October 2010 for the production of the Model S.