Infographic: 41 Insane Facts About Tesla Motors

Guest Author | October 18, 2016 | Guest posts | No Comments

While small-scale innovators and entrepreneurs continue to work towards the improvement of our everyday life and surroundings, often from a socially and environmentally aware perspective, few of the household name businesses of our era are associated with social benevolence – and those that claim to have great visions for the future of humankind tend to be viewed with suspicion. We are rightly vigilant when we sense our data and our relationships are being vacuumed up and reshaped by big companies with big visions, and always one eye on their long-term profits. But if there is one company whose vision seems admirably transparent and genuinely utopian, it’s electric car designer and manufacturer Tesla Motors.

Although not without their share of controversy, Tesla Motors’ scale and ambition in the realm of environmentally friendly vehicles and energy storage earn them a lot of leeway. Their ‘Powerwall’ combines both interests, being a solar-powered home battery and also a charger for their electric cars. Their $5bn ‘Gigafactory’ will be the second largest building in the world, and if that doesn’t sound too considerate to the planet then consider that they’ve somehow designed the thing to use 100% renewable energy. It will also have the capacity to create enough batteries to power half a million electric cars by 2018 alone. This will bring battery prices down – hopefully forcing old-fashioned fossil-fuel vehicles off the road.

And in an age of murky financial dealings and avoidance of responsibility, the company paid back their $465m government loan nine years early – an indication of their success, but also their transparency. Like any big company with increasing social and political sway, the future evolution of Tesla Motors should be regarded with caution, but for now they are one of the most impressive eco-minded outfits out there. Some of the key facts about their success to date – and their vision for the future – have been gathered in this great new infographic, so you can bone up before you drive away.