That’s Martin Eberhard (right). Interesting bio – btw he was the one who picked the name of Tesla too, to honor Nikola Tesla:
“He received a B.S. in computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1982 and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the same school in 1984.
Eberhard began his career as an electrical engineer at Wyse Technology, where he designed the WY-30 ASCII computer terminal as his first product. Eberhard co-founded Network Computing Devices in 1987, where he served as chief engineer through its IPO on 1992.
In 1996, Eberhard founded NuvoMedia with Marc Tarpenning, where they developed the Rocket eBook, the first e-book with secure internet delivery of content.
Eberhard’s interest in sports cars, concern about the dependence on oil imports, and global warming led him to think about EV cars as part of the solution. Their development of the second generation of NuvoMedia’s ebook reader also had an impact due to their experience in sourcing lithium ion cell technology. Eberhard found out about and attempted to purchase a prototype EV sports car called the AC Propulsion tzero.
He provided some financial and technical support in the conversion of the tzero to lithium-ion batteries. Eberhard then tried to convince AC Propulsion founder Alan Cocconi to turn the tzero into a production car. When Cocconi declined, Eberhard co-founded (with Marc Tarpenning), and became the first CEO of, Tesla Motors, an electric car company in Menlo Park, California in 2003.
Eberhard’s guiding principles were:
- An electric car should not be a compromise. With the right technology choices, it is possible to build electric cars that are actually better cars than their competition.
- Battery technology is key to a successful electric car. Lithium ion batteries are not only suitable of automotive use; they are game-changing, making decent driving range a reality.
- If designed right, electric cars can appeal to even the most serious car enthusiast, as electric drive is capable of seriously outperforming internal combustion engines.”
I’m sure an inventor who died poor as pauper due to little interest in financially exploiting his inventions is honoured that is name is now more readily associated with an expensive electrical car driven mostly by the well off than with anything he invented.
People who compare Musk to Edison annoy me.
Musk wishes he could be like Edison. Edison actually invented a lot of the stuff he’s credited with! Tremendous dick yes, but not a fraud.
Eberhard was pushed out as CEO in 2007 and seems to have left on not good terms, there was a lawsuit against Musk for slander and breach of contract. Tarpenning served as CFO until 2008 and then left, it’s less clear if there is bad blood with him.
So basically they were both forced out of the company they founded before it went mainstream.
So you took a specific place, specific income bracket, and specific time period (tax credits are temporary) and applied it generically to argue for Tesla? yes, for a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of population, some Tesla models may be cheap; except that specific fraction of population aint spending 20K on a car…. Then you are the epitome of a Tesla douche.
