Historical Overview
Named after one of the most prominent inventors in history, Nikola Tesla, Elon Musk’s company Tesla Motors is a pioneering force in the automotive industry. The roots of Tesla Motors stretch back to 2003, when two engineers from Silicon Valley, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, were searching for a way to use the renewable energy consumed from solar power. With this goal in mind, the two combined their inventories to form the company that would later be called Tesla Motors.
Although this start-up was ambitious it was soon apparent that it would need a large investment to truly bring their ideas to life. Fortunately, in 2004, Elon Musk, the future founder of Tesla Motors and currently CEO, was presented with the opportunity to invest a sizable contribution in the company and got onboard.
Elon Musk began considering the potential of creating electric vehicles, while keeping his focus on the efforts of building a car that uses the renewable energy of solar power. His ambition to create modern vehicles with traditional styling and the environmentally friendly characteristics of the 21st century later unified the company’s name – Tesla Motors.
Naming Tesla Motors
Musk considered many names for the company and drew inspiration from an interesting subset of historical figures. Ultimately, he chose to name the company after Nikola Tesla—the renowned Serbian inventor, electrical engineer, and physicist—as Tesla’s work seemed to personify the CEO’s vision.
Tesla was bestowed with the title “The Father of Modern Electricity”, and his creative thought process has been a beacon throughout history, particularly in the areas of wireless communication, robotics, and television remote control. His acumen for creating electric power systems enabled him to lay the groundwork for many of the inventions used by man today. Thus, the close relationship between electricity and sustainability seemed to put the pieces of the puzzle together for why Elon Musk chose the name Tesla Motors.
Oftentimes, it can be argued that Musk’s decision to name his company after Nikola Tesla was more than just a homage to the inventor. In many regards, it appears as if Elon Musk was inspired by the genius of Nikola Tesla, and attempted to implement his concepts into the innovative electric vehicles that made Tesla Motors a popular brand. In this way, Musk’s use of Tesla’s name probably had more to do with the technological aspects of Nikola Tesla’s inventiveness, rather than paying homage to the inventor himself.
Musk Admires Tesla
Tesla Motors is just as much a manifestation of Elon Musk’s admiration for Nikola Tesla as an ode to electric vehicles. During his years at PayPal, Elon Musk came to recognize Tesla’s brilliance, and since then he has been vocal in his admiration and has credited him with various inventions and discoveries.
The chairman of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, Musk is well-known for his advocacy of sending individuals to another planet. And yet, many in the scientific and technological industries argue that it was Nikola Tesla who first suggested sending electric-based signals, which if returned, would constitute evidence of life on other planets.
The admiration between the two innovators has been felt around the world, and Tesla Motors remains one of the biggest examples of how far Elon Musk was willing to go in order to pay homage to Nikola Tesla. In some respects, Musk based his career off Tesla’s innovative ideas and designs, a fact reflected in the fact that the payment services sent to Musk’s workers at Tesla Motors are conducted via PayPal, the company where he first came to admire Nikola Tesla.
The Tesla Brand
Since Elon Musk named his company after Nikola Tesla, it is clear that the two innovators were constantly compared, and in many ways, Musk was seen as a new-age Tesla. The tech industry recognizes Tesla Motors as a revolutionary brand that opened the door for electric vehicles and advanced the technology for automobiles. As the blog posts and reviews of Tesla Motors vehicles continue to grow, the company stands firmly as it expands its dimensions of the electric car.
Additionally, the publically traded company has gained an even larger following since Elon Musk began introducing their autonomous cars. Under the helm of Musk and his team, Tesla Motors began releasing new features, displaying growing potential and advanced level of innovation.
The battery efficiencies of Tesla Motors increased significantly due to the efforts of Tesla’s engineering skills, and the company is now developing other technological advances such as self-driving cars. This is not just a milestone for the company but for Elon Musk who, after naming his company after the inspiration of Nikola Tesla, is now tasked to prove that his ambition put the name to good use and lives on.
Tesla vs. Nikola Tesla
Any comparison between the accomplishments of Tesla Motors and Nikola Tesla is rather difficult, as the two innovators lived in vastly different eras. Tesla created many of the inventions we use today, and yet, as Tesla Motors continues to expand, the two innovators appear to be similar in their respective activities. For example, both have made contributions to the field of green energy, with Nikola Tesla inventing and engineering the alternating current (AC) motor – that still serves as the backbone to the electrical grid – and Tesla Motors engineers increasingly advancing the use of solar power.
Tesla Motors is also the first company to create a fully electric-powered vehicle that goes beyond the pre-existing electric cars of other carmakers. Tesla’s vehicles have changed the way individuals view electric vehicles, transitioning them into a state-of-the-art means of transportation.
There are multiple ways in which Tesla Motors has proven to be successful despite the odds, therefore establishing its mark in the automobile industry. The rapid expansion of Tesla Motors and Elon Musk’s popularity drive the media’s fascination with the company’s products, who has been everything from BFRs to autonomous vehicles.
The Future of Tesla Motors
Despite the current successes of Tesla Motors and its self-driving vehicles, there remains potential yet to be explored in regards to alternative vehicles and the usage of renewable energy. Tesla Motors can still expand the scope of charging mechanisms, while utilizing the occasional mobile charging units.
The team at Tesla Motors believes that battery systems and other aspects of electric vehicles can still be improved drastically, and with advancements in cutting-edge technology, the company is in a great position to continue struggling towards a greener world.
Tesla is also experimenting with incorporating artificial intelligence technology into the vehicles, aiming to update their current models with powerful algorithms. Elon Musk’s ambitious plan with the acquisition of AI-focused companies has been to incorporate more data-driven approaches in order to make vehicles operate faster and more efficiently.
These features have been fundamental to the continued success of Tesla Motors, and although they have yet to be finalized, they are currently being tested and as of now, offer a promising future for the transportation industry.
Conclusion of Tesla Motors
At the beginning of the 21st century, Elon Musk started a project to revolutionize the transportation industry while showing a large degree of admiration for Nikola Tesla. This unique merging of innovation and history led to the creation of Tesla Motors, which has taken enormous strides in the world of electric vehicles.
Musk’s plans for the company have been to bring electric cars to the mainstream, and his success in this plan is visualized through the success of the company. Tesla Motors has opened various doors in the auto industry, showcasing powerful battery systems and technology to drive autonomous cars.
The advancements achieved by Tesla Motors has been the direct result of the ambition of Elon Musk and his ideal of creating a greener world – an ideal shared by Nikola Tesla. As the company continues its expansion and exploration, it is abundantly clear that the main reason its CEO choose the name Tesla Motors was to emulate the genius of the man it was named after.
