Tesla Motors, Inc. is an American automotive and energy storage company that designs, manufactures, and sells electric cars, electric vehicle powertrain components, and battery products.
Tesla – is the future of cars. It’s hard to imagine how many fascinating things are hidden in the history of this unique car brand. We offer you a unique collection of curious facts about Tesla Electric Vehicle – the car having the best price/performance ratio.
Here are 20 facts you didn’t know about Tesla Motors :
1. Tesla Motors is the second oldest publicly listed American Automaker (behind Ford).
GM went bankrupt – and now, it’s stock is only 4 months younger than TSLA. Also, Chrysler is not publicly listed. It went bankrupt as well. Chrysler, however, is still a private company.
2. Founder of Tesla Motors
Even though Elon Musk is made claims of being the “founder,” Elon Musk is neither the founder nor the designer of the Tesla. It was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. Many heard of Elon Musk – renowned billionaire and philanthropist, generally considered to be the founder of Tesla Motors. But this is hardly true. Elon Musk is simply a hyped up image of the company and also one of its five major shareholders. The real founder of Tesla Motors is Martin Eberhard – perfectionist dreamer who doesn’t have a knack for anything about the automotive industry.
3. Choosing the Tesla name
Martin Eberhard and perhaps even his wife are the ones behind “Tesla” name. It is known that the conversation and the decision to name the car Tesla happened during the dinner Martin was having with his wife in a popular Disneyland restaurant “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
4. Tesla for lazy drivers
Tesla Model S is perfect for lazy or ever forgetful drivers. There is no need to start or stop the engine – all you have to do is park your car in a convenient location and it will automatically go into a sleep mode.
5. Underbody of Tesla
Tesla Model S is virtually a tank. The car is reinforced with a 6 mm thick armoured shield, which protects the underbody.
6. Special Technology
Tesla Model S boasts perfect memory. It has a special tuning that allows changing vehicle clearance. This is done via self-adjusting air suspension, which at driver’s choice can raise and lower the car. Moreover, once driven through a particular road, the car stores all surface irregularities and next time automatically raises or lowers the suspension on its own, without driver’s involvement.
7. Wheels up!
If this car wasn’t cool enough, it also has a self-adjusting suspension that remembers rough roads you’ve been on before. Although the driver can tell the car to raise up by almost 1.3 inches, the Model S actually remembers where you’ve done this before and will automatically lift itself up on rough terrain.
8. Best engineering minds
The best engineering minds of the biggest automakers participated in creation of this vehicle of the century. For example, Tesla suspension was designed by a Ford engineer Doug Fields.
9. You can actually go 0 to 100 real quick.
The Tesla comes with an “insane” mode, which makes your car go 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. This mode removes the restrictions on the engine and releases all the power at once. Model S Sport edition accelerates to 100 km/h in just four and a half second, which is 1.2 seconds faster than far from being eco-friendly Porsche Panamera. Classic Tesla model accelerates to 100 km/h virtually as fast — in 5.6 seconds, while the car engine rotates at speeds of up to 16,000 revolutions per minute and the drag coefficient is 0.24. Top speed is terrific 209 km/h.
10. Opening the car hood
What does one expect to see by opening the car hood? Without doubt it’s the engine and radiator. But you won’t find either under the hood of Tesla. Instead, the car simply has two trunks. Moreover, regenerative Tesla brake pads will never need any replacement, they are made for eternity.
11. Strategic partnership
Well know automotive group Daimler AG owns 10% equity stake in Tesla, which is estimated at $50 million.
12. The car that never turns off.
Tesla’s Model 3 is so powerful that it actually never turns off. Okay, maybe that’s not the reason, but the Model 3 in fact goes to sleep, much like your laptop does when you close it. Once you put the car in park, the Model 3 hits the hay.
13. Now, even you can own a Tesla!
The Model 3, which is a relatively more affordable model, is scheduled to make its first appearance in 2016 for a respectable $30,000.
14. You can open your door like the superhero you really are.
The Tesla Model X is another new vehicle that will hit the market in late 2015. It is Tesla’s SUV Crossover Model.
15. It’s basically a really fancy laptop.
Tesla uses basically the same battery used in your laptop, the lithium-ion 18650, to power their cars. In the car, a bunch of these batteries are wired into one. Batteries used in Tesla car are really heavy and located very low as well, thus, the centre of gravity is shifted similar to Ford GT.
16. You can continue to make your license plate as cheesy as you want.
There is actually a cheat sheet that has literally hundreds of ideas for personalized license plates for a Tesla, including “GAS LOL.”
17. Tesla’s sales model is actually illegal.
Tesla’s sales model is illegal in 48 states. If you want to buy a Tesla, you go directly through Tesla Motors — no dealership, no bargaining. In most states, cars must be sold by a franchised dealership and never directly.
18. Goodbye gas.
You can say goodbye to spending a ridiculous amount of money on gas, since it’s free to charge your Tesla at a Tesla charging station and it only takes about 20 to 30 minutes to charge.
19. Need a new battery? No problem.
You can also take part in the “battery swapping” done at the Supercharging stations. The Model S was specifically built to change a battery very fast (in 90 seconds to be exact). For $60 you can drive up to a Supercharging station, have your battery completely changed and come back later when your other battery is fully charged.
20. A charging house
Tesla hasn’t just stopped with cars. Its newest innovation is a new “powerwall.” The “powerwall” is a battery intended for use in the home as a supplemental power source, with the hopes of it eventually upgrading to a primary power source.
20 Facts You Didn't Know About Tesla Motors
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