Tesla Motors, Inc. is an American company that designs, manufactures, and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. Tesla Motors is a public company that trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol TSLA. In the first quarter of 2013, Tesla posted profits for the first time in its ten year history.

Tesla Motors first gained widespread attention following their production of the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car. The company's second vehicle is the Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan. Tesla also markets electric powertrain components, including lithium-ion battery packs to automakers including Daimler and Toyota. Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, has said that he envisions Tesla as an independent automaker, aimed at eventually offering electric cars at prices affordable to the average consumer.

Tesla Motors is named after electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla. The Tesla Roadster uses an AC motor descended directly from Tesla's original 1882 design. The Tesla Roadster, the company's first vehicle, is the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production EV with a range greater than 200 miles (320 km) per charge. Between 2008 and March 2012, Tesla sold more than 2,250 Roadsters in 31 countries. Tesla stopped taking orders for the Roadster in the U.S. market in August 2011. Tesla unveiled the Tesla Model S all-electric sedan on March 26, 2009. In December 2012, Tesla employed almost 3,000 full-time employees. By January 2014, this number had grown to 6,000 employees. (more...)