Which electric vehicle company was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003? Tesla.
Tesla was incorporated as Tesla Motors on July 1, 2003, in San Carlos, California. Engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning created the company around the idea that battery-powered cars could be both high-performance vehicles and cleaner alternatives to gasoline cars. The company was named for inventor Nikola Tesla.
The founders were inspired partly by the AC Propulsion tzero, an electric sports car, and by General Motors’ decision to recall and destroy its EV1 vehicles. Tesla’s first major product, the Roadster, used lithium-ion battery cells and a body based on the Lotus Elise. It entered production in 2008.
Elon Musk joined as a major early investor and became chairman in 2004, while J. B. Straubel later became an important technical leader. A 2009 settlement allowed Eberhard, Tarpenning, Ian Wright, Musk, and Straubel to use the title “co-founder,” which explains why accounts sometimes list five co-founders rather than two.