Timeline
Elon Musk
1971. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, June 28
1983. Designed a computer game and sold it for $500
1989. Moved to Canada, in part to avoid a compulsory military service in South Africa
1990. Began studying at the Queen’s University in Ontario
1992. Moved to the US to study at the University of Pennsylvania
1995. Began a graduate program in applied physics and materials science at the Stanford University. Left Stanford after two days and founded Zip2
1999. Compaq’s Altavista division acquired Zip2. Founded X.com
2000. X.com acquired Confinity in a 50/50 merger. Married Justine Wilson. Left X.com as CEO
2001. X.com changed its name to PayPal. Established the Musk Foundation to provide grants for renewable energy, space, and medical research and also science and engineering education
2002. eBay acquired PayPal. Founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)
2004. Invested in Tesla Motors. The twins Griffin and Xavier were born
2006. The triplets Kai, Damian, and Saxon were born. Co-founded SolarCity
2007. Sold the McLaren F1
2008. Became CEO of Tesla Motors. Divorced Justine Musk and met Talulah Riley
2010. Married Talulah Riley. Had a small role in the movie Iron Man 2
2012. Divorced Talulah Riley
Tesla Motors
1900. 38 percent of US automobiles are powered by electricity, but as Henry Ford designed the much cheaper T-Ford, the electric cars began to disappear
1970s. The price of gasoline hits record because of a series of energy crises, so the interest in electric cars increased again
1996–1999. General Motors produced an electric car called EV1 and leased it to customers
2002
• January. Martin Heberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors with the goal of reinventing the electric car and transforming traditional car manufacturing into a clean technology industry
2003
• General Motors canceled the lease program and removed the last EV1 from the streets. They said they couldn’t sell enough of the cars to make the EV1 profitable
• July. Martin Heberhard and Marc Tarpenning formally incorporated Tesla Motors. They had earlier made a feasibility study to see if they could make an electric car. They now made a feasibility study together with AC Propulsion to see if the batteries would work
• November. The 2 employees searched for a partner to build the rest of the car. Lotus became their choice
2004
• February. Ian Wright, who had met Martin Eberhard while on a plane, joined the company. They finished business plan 1.0
• March. Starting a car company is expensive, so they began to look for outside investors
• April. Series A funding where Elon Musk was the main investor. Other investors included SDL Ventures and Compass Technology Partners. JB Straubel joined the company as employee number 5
• May. An early styling study began
• June. A technology implementation study began
• July. Tesla had 9 employees and moved to an office in San Carlos, California. They also made a “mule” which is a car that doesn’t reproduce but you can see if the concept works. To design Mule 1 they bought an old Lotus Elise
• October. The 15 employees began to design the drive-train component
• November. They installed the drive-train in the Mule 1
• December. Tesla couldn’t use the same design as the Lotus Elise, so they had a contest where Barney Hatt made the best design
2005
• January. They made a 1/4 scale model in clay of the design Barney Hatt had made. Tesla had now 18 employees and they also took out Mule 1 for a test drive
• February. The now 23 employee strong company needed more money, so they made a series B funding. Not only Elon Musk invested more money, but also Valor Equity Partners. Tesla also opened an office in UK close to the Lotus office
• April-June. Tesla made a full-scale model in clay of the Tesla Roadster
• July. With 38 employees, they now tested a plastic model of the Roadster in a wind tunnel
• August. Some of the 41 employees began developing a motor
• December. 63 employees and they began to build the Mule 2 in fiberglass
2006
• January. A drivable Mule 2 was finished
• April. The engineers thought the Roadster was finished so they made 10 engineering prototypes (EP), which compared to a Mule can (in theory) be produced
• May. 92 employees and they finished the first EP, called EP 1. Tesla raised a series C round led by Vantage Point Partners and Elon Musk
• July. Almost no-one knew that Tesla existed, until now when Tesla showed EP 1 and EP 2 in Santa Monica, California
• August. 100 employees. Why did they make 10 EPs? So they could test-crash a few of them. Tesla had earlier crashed a few virtual cars, but they needed to know if the computers models were accurate. They also began to show the Roadster at events to market it
• September. 120 employees. They made more tests, including radiated emissions and susceptibility testing
• October. They made a durability test, which consists of driving the Roadster on a cobblestone racetrack. The idea is to simulate 100,000 miles in 6 months. It would have taken much longer time to drive the same distance on a smooth road. Tesla realized that their computer models were inaccurate – the Roadster’s transmission didn’t survive the durability test
• November. 144 employees, and more tests, including driving through a saltwater bath
• December. They showed the EP 2 at the Los Angeles Auto Show
2007
• January. Tesla brought the Roadster to Arvidsjaur, Sweden, to see if it could survive winter conditions
• February. 205 employees. Tesla began to build a validation prototype (VP), where they took everything they learned from the engineering prototype. Tesla says it will build a $35 million plant in Albuquerque, to produce the Model S
• March. 230 employees and they finished the VP 1
• April. Raised more money – a series D round led by Elon Musk, Technology Partners, and Vantage Point
• June. Tesla’s motor factory in Taiwan was finished and it began producing parts
• July. A new transmission was finished
• August. Tesla finished the VP 10. CEO Martin Eberhard was replaced by Tesla investor Michael Marks, who would work as an interim-CEO until Tesla found a long-term CEO
• September. Tesla delayed the launch of the Roadster because they needed more time to test its durability
• October. It turned out that also the new transmission failed in the durability test. Tesla needed yet another transmission
• November. Martin Eberhard had to leave the company
• December. Interim CEO Michael Marks was replaced by interim CEO Ze’ev Drori
2008
• January. 260 employees. The VPs survived the new tests, so the Roadster was finished – except for the transmission
• March. Tesla began production of the Roadster
• April. More money – a bridge financing led by Elon Musk and Valor Equity Partners
• May. Opened a retail store in Los Angeles, and they also finished a new transmission
• June. Opened a second retail store in Menlo Park, California, and they also delivered the first Roadster to the customers. Marc Tarpenning decided to leave Tesla. The Model S was announced in a press release