Who Is Elon Musk? : The Story of a Boy Who Got Bullied In School and Then Went On to Become the Most Interesting and Famous Man in Tech by Phil Cooper

Author:Phil Cooper [Cooper, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-27T22:00:00+00:00

The Story of Tesla began in 2003. A chemistry wiz named J.B. Straubel would come up with crazy ideas from time to time and conduct experiments that would put his life in danger. The 2-inch long scar on his face was proof of his experiments’ riskiness. His main interest was in solar power for vehicles. At the time, none of the companies in the world had come up with such an idea.

By 2002, Straubel had not only tried building his own electric car but also bounced around from a motor company to another. During one of these job shifts, Straubel came into contact with his Stanford solar car team. They had been secretly working on a project to make an electric vehicle that would run on solar power. Though Stanford had tried to close down the project, the students had insisted they need no help from the university. Straubel helped them build vehicles, and they would compete in races. He even went as far as inviting them to their place to stay.

A conversation at night after a race had them talking about how lithium batteries had performed better in a car. He pitched his idea about using lithium batteries to the Stanford group, and they all said they would be on board if he could come up with the funding for it.

So, Straubel stalked investors for money shamelessly. It was during one of his campaigns when Harold Rosen took Straubel with him to talk with Musk. The young man pitched his idea about an electric plane but got no response from Musk. However, when he talked about electric vehicles, the idea struck a chord with Musk.

Musk himself had been thinking about creating electric vehicles for years. When he heard Straubel’s idea of using lithium batteries, he was all in. Musk gave Straubel $10,000 of the $100,000 he was looking for and formed a great kinship over their shared interest.

To impress him further, Straubel asked the President of AC Propulsion a tzero for Musk to drive. Musk fell in love with the car and tried to commercialize it. However, the engineers at AC Propulsion wouldn’t agree to the deal. Musk then decided to go his own way.

Unbeknownst to Straubel, two business partners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were working on their own project of electric-powered vehicles. In 2003, a company was incorporated, which was named Tesla. The partners, along with other investors, had the skills and knowledge to run a company and make cars. Now, they needed proper backing from someone who knew his way around such projects. In their minds, they had one name: Elon Musk.

Since Musk was already looking for a way in, he was eager to meet the Eberhard and Tarpenning. Once he heard what they had to say, he was on board. After the meeting, Musk immediately called Straubel and told him to go meet the guys. Through Straubel was a bit skeptical because he had never heard about Eberhard and Tarpenning, he still paid them a visit.

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