Who was Tesla and why is the world’s most famous electric car brand so called?

Today, anyone who hears the name Tesla will attribute it to Elon Musk’s brand of electric cars. Now the question is, why did this visionary businessman name his now world-famous battery-powered vehicle company?

Well, it’s the surname of the man considered by many to be the greatest inventor of the 20th century. A man who has dedicated his life to solving the mysteries of electricity and finding a way to make it easier.

Born in 1856 in what is now Croatia, At that time belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nikola Tesla distinguished himself from an early age by his memory and his intelligence. He first studied in Graz (Austria) then in Prague (Czech Republic), before starting to work as chief engineer for the telephone company of Budapest (Hungary) installing the country’s first communication network.

Later, he moved to Paris (France) hired by the Edison Continental company, owned by the already famous American inventor. In 1884, he emigrated to the United States, to New York, where he went directly to the offices of the man who would definitely influence his life: Thomas Alva Edison.

A letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, his last boss in Europe, was addressed to him, which said: “I know two great men, you are one of them. The other is the young bearer of this letter.”

After reading the letter, Edison hired him the same day. But their relationship was far from good.

Between Tesla and Edison there were irreconcilable differences, which increased over time. A war between two engineering geniuses. And it is that while Tesla bets on alternating electric current as a source of energy, Edison strongly defends direct current, which is less efficient in transporting it over a greater distance.

Although Tesla’s idea was better – we still use it today – he needed Edison to put it into practice. Edison defended his own theory at all costs and there was no way he would allow a young stranger who had just arrived in town to take away his fame and endanger his empire. Tesla then ran into a savage smear campaign.

After that, in 1886, Nikola founded his own company, there Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing, which also didn’t have much success as disagreements arose with new investors, who were also more inclined to exploit the DC grid.

After losing all of his life savings, Tesla found himself broke and jobless as he watched his partners profit from his already numerous inventions.

In 1888, the great businessman George Westinghouse bought all the inventor’s patents for a million dollars and hired him to finally develop his alternating current production system and compete directly with the direct current advocated by Edison.

Tesla won the game, and in 1893 the Westinghouse company was compelled by the United States government to establish a power grid that would cover the vast territory with the technology it had so foresightedly championed.

During this time, Tesla’s mind did not rest and in 1890 he invented the coil that bears his name and which is used to raise the voltage of the current when needed. This is the so-called transformer that many household appliances and computers today equip. In addition, Tesla will develop the modern light bulb and which also prevailed in its time over that manufactured by Edison, inferior in its performance.

Tesla’s genius was not limited to these great achievements. In 1896 developed an electricity generating system that took advantage of the hydraulic power of Niagara Falls. That same year, he filed a patent for the first radio system, narrowly defeating Marconi and sparking a dispute that lasted decades.

Other amazing contributions of this tireless inventor were a radio-wave remote-controlled ship or the great discovery of standing waves, which demonstrated how electrical energy could be transported through the earth’s crust or through the upper layers of the atmosphere. .

In total, Nikola Tesla will file 40 patents in the United States throughout his life and 700 others in the world. In 1928, he filed his latest invention: the perfected patent for a flying vehicle with vertical take-off.

Nikola Tesla died alone on January 7, 1943, in a New York hotel room, at the age of 86, of a heart attack. His funeral was attended by over 2,000 people who mourned the loss of a true genius.

Once buried, the FBI, who watched him closely, mysteriously seized all the documentation on his inventions. And although the abundant material is gradually being declassified, the mystery remains as to the true scope of its contents.

“Science is nothing more than a perversion in itself unless its ultimate goal is the betterment of mankind.” These words sum up the vision of Nikola Tesla, a man of enigmatic figure, visionary and controversial and committed inventor who was ahead of his time.

After learning about his life, thought, and work, it’s not hard to see why Elon Musk named his company that name, especially given its pioneering nature in the mass production of powered-only vehicles. to electricity. Best name, couldn’t stand.

If the company was founded in 2003, in California, it was not until 2009 that Musk launched his first car, the Tesla Roadster, a two-seater convertible with a Lotus body and 100% electric propulsion. It was the first car to use lithium-ion batteries, which allowed a range of up to 300 km, in addition to other features such as 0-100 in just four seconds.

In just two years, more than 2,000 units of the Roadster were sold, even though its price exceeded $100,000. This is how the American firm began to make itself heard, combining sportiness and efficiency in a single vehicle.

Today, the Tesla catalog is made up of the Model S, 3, X and Y, with which it ranks as the best-selling brand of electric cars in the world. In 2022, it managed to market more than 1.3 million vehicles, a figure that represented a significant increase of 40% compared to 2021.

In addition to its electric vehicle business, Tesla has also expanded into other industries, including solar power and energy storage.