Tesla is the electric-car company Elon Musk joined as chairman in 2004.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon Musk led the company's first major funding round and became chairman of the board in 2004. He later became chief executive officer in 2008, after the company had begun developing its first production vehicle.
Tesla's Roadster, introduced in 2008, used lithium-ion battery cells and was based on a modified Lotus Elise platform. The Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y later expanded the company from a specialist sports-car maker into a mass-market electric-vehicle producer.
The company is often discussed among the world's most valuable businesses because its market capitalization reflects expectations about electric vehicles, batteries, charging, software, and autonomous-driving technology. A frequent mistake is saying Musk founded Tesla alone; he was an early investor and leader, but the original founders were Eberhard and Tarpenning.