Tesla 1 million cars

By: Nick Gambino

Tesla is practically synonymous with “electric car.” While they are not the only player in the electric vehicle game, they are certainly king, being the largest seller (at least in the U.S.). The company has just made history, crossing a milestone with one million electric cars made.

World-famous CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, congratulated the company on this milestone achievement in a tweet, as he’s prone to do.

“Congratulations Tesla team on making our 1,000,000th car!!” the tweet reads.

The company has come a long way since its founding almost 17 years ago. Founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, and with Elon Musk taking an active role since the beginning as well as funding most of the operation, Tesla’s mission was to offer electric vehicles to consumers at affordable rates. The concept was revolutionary and the milestones they’ve achieved since then are in step with this initial vision.

They saw the production and sale of their first electric car in 2008, so if you’re counting, that’s one million cars in 12 years. Their first consumer car, the Tesla Roadster, while no longer sold by the company, is the electric car that started it all.

As it stands today, their roster of electric vehicles includes the Model S (sedan), Model 3 (sedan), Model X (crossover SUV) and, just this month, the Model Y. Toward the end of March, Tesla plans to start delivering their newest electric SUV, the Model Y.

While the manufacture of one million cars might not seem impressive when compared to other auto manufacturers like Toyota or Ford or others of that ilk, you have to take into account the industry Tesla is seeking to disrupt.

We’ve run on gas-powered vehicles for over 100 years. Everywhere you look, in almost every town in the U.S., there are gas stations. It’s a well-oiled machine and it’s established in stone. So, the fact that these top-tier auto manufacturers produce somewhere on the order of 10 million cars a year is not surprising.

Electric cars are a new and revolutionary concept that flies into the teeth of what we all know and think is possible. They are fighting the system and giving us hope that they might win out at the end of the day.

So, this milestone is historical and something we might look back on with reverence 100 years from now when we’re zipping around in our Tesla electric flying cars.

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