How Elon Musk Took Over Tesla: The Real 2003 Story
The real story of Tesla begins not with Elon Musk, but with two entrepreneurs — Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. In July 2003, they officially registered Tesla Motors, a company with a bold vision: to prove that electric vehicles could be better, faster, and more exciting than gasoline-powered cars.
Eberhard, a passionate engineer and Silicon Valley veteran, had recently sold his e-book company and was looking for his next challenge. Inspired by the potential of lithium-ion batteries, he believed that electric vehicles could finally compete with traditional cars. Tarpenning, his longtime friend and business partner, joined him in this venture.
Together, they named the company after Nikola Tesla, the brilliant inventor and electrical engineer. The idea was to start with a high-end sports car — the Roadster — and eventually scale down to affordable mass-market vehicles. However, they lacked the capital to bring their vision to life.
Enter Elon Musk. In early 2004, the PayPal co-founder and SpaceX CEO met with Eberhard and Tarpenning. Impressed by their plans, Musk led Tesla’s first major investment round, contributing $6.5 million and becoming chairman of the board. Though not a founder, Musk’s involvement was pivotal from the beginning.
Conflicts soon emerged. By 2007, tensions over leadership and direction led to Eberhard’s departure. Musk took a more active role and by 2008, during Tesla’s financial crisis, he assumed the CEO position. He restructured the company, laid off employees, and led the final development of the Roadster.
While Eberhard and Tarpenning created Tesla, it was Musk who scaled it. Under his leadership, Tesla expanded into battery storage, solar energy, and mass-market EVs like the Model 3. But the roots of the company — its original dream — belong to those July days in 2003, long before Musk took the wheel.