Light-bulb moments. Before Tesla, one startup idea Martin and Marc considered was smart sprinkler heads to aid in water conservation. They decided to conserve oil instead.

About Tesla Motors

One Thing We Can Agree On

Whether you‘re more concerned about global warming or about national security, there's one thing we can probably agree on: our dependence on oil is dangerous and costly.

Right now 58 percent of our oil comes from other countries, so it's practically inevitable our foreign policy principles will be held ransom by our need to maintain domestic economic stability. When you consider that 68 percent of our oil is used for transportation, we believe gasoline-free cars are an ideal solution to these issues. Even a hybrid car, which still burns gasoline and emits carbon dioxide, doesn‘t solve our oil-related problems, it just postpones them. If you look hard at the numbers, it's clear that an electric car is the cleanest and most efficient kind of car in existence. We have done exhaustive “well to wheel” energy and emissions analyses, and the numbers are undeniable.

Electric “Punishment Cars”

Historically, it seemed to us that electric cars had been designed by people who thought we really shouldn't be driving at all - but if we must, we should suffer every minute of it. Electric cars have had terrible range and embarrassing styling. To those who say electric cars have been tried and failed we say, of course electric cars won‘t catch on if no one actually wants to drive them.

Changing Perceptions

We needed to change perceptions of electric vehicles in a big way. To make electric cars a viable alternative, we set out to build one that was gorgeous and thrilling to drive.

Our first car, the Tesla Roadster, isn't a pipedream or a plan; this car exists now. It's a no-compromise driver‘s car that does 0 to 60 mph in less than 4 second and will hit a top speed of nearly twice what the law permits. With a range of about 220 miles on a single charge, you can use it all day long and not worry you'll run out of juice. Just plug it in at night the same way you drop your cell phone into its charger, and sleep well, without guilt.

Just the Beginning

While the Tesla Roadster's sticker price is in a league with other high-performance sports cars with similar specs, we recognize it's out of reach for a lot of people. We consciously chose to develop a high-end sports car as our first car in order to develop the “performance DNA” from which we could create other electric vehicles. Our next model will leverage the Tesla Roadster‘s technology, resulting in a less expensive sports sedan that we can sell at higher volume.

The Mission

Tesla Motors designs and sells high-performance, highly efficient electric sports cars — with no compromises. Tesla Motors cars combine style, acceleration, and handling with advanced technologies that make them among the quickest and the most energy-efficient cars on the road.