Tesla models

Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, with Elon Musk joining soon after as its largest investor and eventual chief executive. The goal was audacious for the time: prove that electric cars could be desirable and fast rather than slow and dutiful. Tesla did more than any other company to make the electric car mainstream.

The strategy was to start at the top and work down. The original Roadster showed an EV could be genuinely quick, the Model S made the electric luxury sedan credible, and the Model 3 brought the technology to a mass-market price. Along the way Tesla built its own fast-charging network, a decisive advantage rivals spent years trying to match.

Now based in Austin, Texas, Tesla is among the most valuable carmakers in the world, though it sells far fewer models than legacy giants. For buyers, a Tesla means long range, rapid acceleration, over-the-air software updates, and that charging network, set against build quality and service that can be inconsistent. It is the brand that turned the EV from a compromise into the default choice for many.