The History of Tesla car maker & VIN decoder

Engineers Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning had a friendship long before the history of Tesla. Back in the 90s they founded a common business, but in 1997 the attention of Eberhardt was drawn by the American electric car manufacturer AC Propulsion, which produced the Tzero model running on a lead-acid battery.

Martin Eberhard personally tested this model and was very impressed. At that time there were no analogues in the world, and the engineer decided to seriously engage in the development of new electric cars based on Tzero. Eberhard invested about half a million dollars in AC Propulsion with plans to replace the lead-acid batteries, installing lithium-ion analogues.

Alas, but before the serial production of the new model has not come. Price of the updated version Tzero has grown significantly and was more than 200 thousand dollars. Developers were convinced that such a model has almost no chance of success, after which Eberhard and Tarpenning decided to create a company Tesla to start developing their own innovative cars.

In the spring of 2003, Mark Tarpenning bought the domain teslamotors.com, and on July 1, 2003, the glorious history of Tesla begins. At the time the Tesla brand was created, engineers had already formed a calculation model on how to calculate the right number of batteries, guided by the mass and basic characteristics of the car.

When creating the new car company, the businessmen did not hide their lack of experience in such matters. They came to the conclusion that they would work on the engines and final assembly by themselves, they would take control over the marketing and development of sales plans. The rest of the spare parts will be bought from well-known manufacturers.

Over time, it turned out that about $7 million was needed to develop the first model called Roadster. To make the idea a reality, it was necessary to attract a third investor, which became Ian Wright. After some time, Ilon Musk appears in the history of Tesla. The billionaire would later head the board of chairmen of the Tesla brand, with Martin Eberhard as CEO.

The main goal at the start of Tesla's history was to produce a premium sports car. It was developed for the first customers, whose opinion should be taken into account later in the production of new models, including sedans and other types of compact cars. The prototype of the debut car in Tesla's history was first unveiled at a show in California on July 19, 2006.

In the same year, thanks to the efforts and connections of Ilon Musk, Tesla managed to attract notable investors, including the co-founders of Google. 100 million dollars made it possible to launch the development of the first production car, the Roadster, which would be only the first step on the road to great success.

Eberhard and Tarpenning initially saw Ilon Musk as a potential investor with a big investment for the future. Both had closely followed his public speeches at various conferences, and were convinced of his ability to think outside the box. Martin and Mark agreed that the idea of an electric car would definitely appeal to Musk.

Even more confidence in the possible cooperation was given by a phone call from the former head of AC Propulsion Tom Gage to Martin Eberhard. During the conversation, the engineer learned that Musk was in search of a reliable partner to invest in the field of electric vehicle development. Wasting no time, Eberhard and Wright set sail for Los Angeles, where the very next day they were to meet with the future head of Tesla, Ilon Musk.

During the weekend talks, the oligarch kept asking about the details of the financial models. As Tarpenning later admitted, Musk literally wore him out with questions that had to be answered for two days. As early as Monday morning, Mark and Martin visited Los Angeles again and received a positive answer, which meant one thing - Tesla's story was definitely not going to be short. Do not forget to use Tesla VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.

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