Tesla was incorporated in Delaware on July 1, 2003, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
The company was originally called Tesla Motors. Eberhard and Tarpenning founded it with the goal of developing electric vehicles that could compete with conventional cars on performance and appeal, rather than being marketed only as economical transportation.
Elon Musk joined as an early major investor and became chairman in 2004. JB Straubel and Ian Wright were also important early contributors. Tesla’s first production vehicle, the Roadster, entered production in 2008 and used lithium-ion battery cells derived from consumer-electronics formats.
Tesla later expanded with the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y, while also developing energy-storage products and solar businesses. A common mix-up is treating Musk as Tesla’s sole founder; he was an early investor and later chief executive, but the company was founded by Eberhard and Tarpenning.