The Trouble With Tesla (1 of 3)
Elon Musk led Tesla's $7.5 million Series A funding round and became chairman of the board in 2004. Eberhard said that while he was the CEO and Musk was the chairman of the board, Musk came to board meetings monthly but didn't regularly work at the company. "So, you know, the idea of him, like, sitting around working on the car or something is simply not true," Eberhard said. "He was not there." Source
ContentsIntroduction
Elon Musk did not "invent" the Electric Car
Elon Musk Did Not "Found" Tesla
How Elon Musk Stole Tesla
The Dispute and Fallout
Introduction
At least 90%, and perhaps even 95%, of everything that you know, or think that you know, or that you believe to be true, about Elon Musk/Tesla, is false. Almost everything that you have been told by Tesla, or by Elon Musk about Tesla, or by the media about Tesla, is untrue either in whole or in part. Moreover, 90% or even 95% of the actuality of Tesla is almost unknown, the truth being a victim of the carefully-crafted "Musk, the Manufactured Messiah" campaign, and a colossal amount of media suppression.
The official story of Tesla (and Elon Musk) revolves around "Golden-haired Wonder Boy Genius went from sleeping in his car and eating leaves from trees, to changing the world with courage and determination, inventing the electric car and founding Tesla, and becoming the richest man in the world." But the real story of Tesla is not such a fairytale. It is a story of criminal fraud, corruption, graft, slander, extortion, vicious bullying, enormous unending lies, predatory finance, legal exploitation, sociopathology, sexual depravity (yes, really), all supported by the largest media promotion campaign in modern history. [1] The purpose of this essay is to document these assertions.
While it may not be obvious to casual onlookers, Tesla is dying. Tesla auto sales have collapsed in all markets, and are continuing to shrink. Of the other products or features, Tesla's Cybertruck is dead; its semi-trailer truck was stillborn; Musk's Robotaxi is floundering badly; his autonomous "full self-driving" is wretchedly substandard and meeting powerful opposition; the Optimus V2 robot is dead, [2] [3] and V3 is unlikely to be much better.
Elon Musk did not "invent" the Electric Car
Contrary to what so many media pundits have suggested or claimed, Elon Musk did not in any sense “invent” electric cars. In the early 1900s, when the US was busy industrialising, automobiles were rapidly evolving at the same time, but gasoline-powered transportation, whether by private auto or mass transit, was on its way out. Almost all of the nation’s local and inter-city train transport was electric, and electric automobiles were rapidly gaining ground over their gas-powered rivals. By 1900, nearly 40% of all US cars were electric, and so popular that New York City had a fleet of electric taxis.
Modern electric vehicles (EVs) are the product of a gradual, global effort spanning decades, with significant development long before Tesla's founding, and in fact long before Elon Musk was born. In recent terms, there was a regulatory push in the early 1990s, primarily instigated by California's "Zero Emission Vehicle" mandate, which pushed automakers to develop EVs. By the mid-1990s to early 2000s, we already had the first wave of modern EVs and hybrids. GM's EV1, launched in 1996, became the first modern mass-produced EV from a major automaker, followed by the Toyota Prius in 1997, the Honda Insight in 1999, and the Ford Escape Hybrid a few years later. Tesla Motors was founded in 2003, with its first car, the high-performance Roadster, appearing in 2008.
In the meantime, we had the Nissan Leaf, and GM's Chevrolet Volt. Legacy automakers (VW, GM, Ford) and Chinese brands (BYD, NIO, XPeng, Chery) launched competitive models. And, in only a few years, the entire EV industry shifted from "electrification" to "intelligence", focusing on software and autonomous driving.
Tesla was not even a catalyst in promoting the "Smartphone on Wheels" concept for EVs, a movement led by many others, mostly Chinese. This movement, including autonomous auto control, was built upon decades of prior research, regulatory pressure, and technological advancements initiated by governments and other automakers worldwide. Tesla was only a small part of this evolutionary development, and by no means the leader. And Tesla did not in any sense originate autonomous driving. It is generally fair to say that Google initiated the modern, dedicated pursuit of autonomous driving as we know it. [4] [5] However, it was not the absolute first entity to work on the concept. The research for autonomous driving originated in academia with Carnegie Mellon and Stanford universities working on a DARPA defense project. [6]
Martin Forest Eberhard is an American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Tesla, Inc. (then Tesla Motors) with Marc Tarpenning in July 2003. Source
Perhaps the two most critical factors that moved the EV from niche to mainstream were the move to lithium-ion batteries (led by Tesla's founder Martin Aberhard) and supportive government policies (primarily China).
But already before 2000, China and the European nations were promoting EVs and subsidizing their independent development. China's EV progress was outstanding, and less than 10 years later China was the world's largest EV market. There were several factors driving this development in China. There was a question of fuel supply, since the US was repeatedly threatening to blockade the sea routes for China's petroleum imports. Further, China’s leaders were concerned that as the nation developed and hundreds of millions of Chinese would be driving automobiles, the only sensible hope for a privately-mobile China would rest in what we call “new energy” vehicles. We couldn’t have 1.5 billion Chinese driving gasoline-powered cars since the resultant pollution would eventually kill everyone. I covered China's EV development in an earlier article you may care to read for background. [7] Another useful article is The Politics of Electric Cars (EVs), [8] helpful for a fundamental understanding of the industry.
Still, the myth appears to have passed into legend, with the UK Independent telling us that "Tesla under Elon Musk made the first best electric car." [9] Except that it didn't, and it wasn't.
Elon Musk Did Not "Found" Tesla
The Tesla website loudly claims, "Elon Musk founded Tesla" and "Elon Musk co-founded and leads Tesla...." [10] Those claims are not true. This isn't really news, but the truth has been heavily suppressed by the media or their controllers, and replaced with a myth to create an image of "Elon the Messiah". Many media sources have stated clearly that "Contrary to popular belief, Elon Musk did not found Tesla", [11] or "Unbeknownst to much of the public, Elon Musk did not start Tesla". [12] But these are second or third-tier information sources; the mass media unanimously propagate the false myth of Elon Musk founding Tesla.
Tesla Founders. Source:
Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. [13] [14] It was they who chose to name the company after inventor Nikola Tesla, and were definitely the exclusive owners of the brand. They conceived the company, registered the name and domain, and developed the initial business plan and Roadster prototype. They pioneered the use of Lithium-ion batteries. There were actually four men who can be credited as "founders" of Tesla; Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, J.B. Straubel, and Ian Wright, an engineer who had been part of Tesla since the early days. [15] Elon Musk's name is not in this list.
Corporate founding stories can become simplified or mythologised over time, often focusing on the most prominent figure. The "legend" of Apple centered on Steve Jobs; we have all but forgotten Steve Wozniak. In Tesla's case, the narrative has heavily centered on Musk, clearly at the expense of the work done by its original founders and early team. And this is not by accident. There is a video circulating on YouTube and Douyin of Elon Musk on the Joe Rogan show. In that video, Musk states that when he joined Tesla, the company had no employees, no factory, no nothing, and had never made even a prototype electric car. According to Musk, all they had was "an idea". However, Musk's statements fit his consistent pattern of downplaying the work of any predecessors to emphasise his own (mostly imaginary) transformative genius, and to greatly exaggerate the personal risks he undertook to save and scale the company. As one observer noted, "Elon Musk is all about Elon Musk".
In any case, Musk's disparaging claims about Tesla are flatly contradicted by the company's well-documented early history. The first Tesla Roadster prototype, based on a Lotus Elise chassis, was built and tested before Musk's investment. The reference sources all appear quite consistent, showing Tesla was indeed a functioning startup with significant engineering progress and a growing team when Musk joined. [16]
It was Eberhard who first proposed the use of lithium-ion batteries for EVs, and it was from this mastery of lithium batteries that they were able to create a pure EV automobile. They needed to find an auto platform (chassis) that could accommodate the batteries and motors. Prior to starting Tesla, Eberhard had invested in an EV startup named AC Propulsion, and the initial thought was that the company's prototype, named the T-Zero, might be suitable for mass production, but the founders later shifted to Lotus. Lotus could offer a complete vehicle package so Tesla ordered 2,500 vehicle kits from Lotus. [17] [18] [19] The next step was to find funding.
Tesla was initially a functioning, albeit very small, startup, not an established company with its own factory but far from "just an idea". [20] When Elon Musk joined Tesla, the company had about 20 employees. It had no factory of its own, but Tesla's engineers were working in a facility in the UK, modifying Lotus Elise chassis. It is true that at this first stage (early 2004) they had no fully-functional prototype. By early 2005, the first drivable Roadster prototype was completed, developed by a core team of 18 engineers. By early 2006, Tesla had approximately 150 employees, multiple working prototypes, and were preparing public demonstrations. [21]
Compared to the massive, integrated auto companies of today, Tesla's early operation in 2004 was incredibly bare-bones—no owned factory, a tiny team, and a prototype built on another company's chassis. But Tesla in 2004 was a typical high-risk Silicon Valley startup: it had a small, talented team, a clear engineering plan, and a working prototype within months - all crucial assets that attracted Musk's investment in the first place. The documented evidence clearly proves that Musk's claims are narcissistic false exaggerations.
How Elon Musk Stole Tesla
The story of Tesla's five founders, and why only two became billionaires. Source
Elon Musk joined Tesla in early 2004. The fledgling Tesla at this stage needed financing since the required development for the Roadster was projected to cost around $7 million. The first financing round was attempted at $7.5 million, but only $1 million could be obtained from outside investors, so Musk eventually invested $6.5 million of his own money (not the $50 million that he boasted about), for which he insisted on the position of Chairman. It was also stipulated that he would have ultimate decision-making authority over all matters, while Martin Eberhard, as Tesla's founding father, remained CEO. [22] [23] It may seem strange that the Tesla owners would have made Elon Musk the Chairman of the company. He was still quite young, in his early 30s, and was only an investor with no engineering background and no knowledge relevant to car development. But the story was a bit more complicated.
The US economy in early 2004 was in a solid expansion phase following the 2001 recession. Interest rates were low, stock markets were rising rapidly, and fundraising was not universally difficult. Tesla, however, had serious financing challenges not from a bad overall economy but due to its perceived "revolutionary" and "extremely high-risk" profile. For one thing, the auto industry is famously capital-intensive with high entry barriers, and electric vehicles were just a niche market with unproven consumer demand. Tesla had no proven product, no factory, and an unproven team trying to build a complex machine from scratch. The plan to modify the Lotus Elise chassis was novel but unproven. Investors widely considered the idea of a high-performance electric car to be "a foolish idea". Venture capitalists were generally not investing in "hard tech" or manufacturing at the time, preferring software and internet startups with lower capital needs and faster returns. Musk himself noted that "every single person" he approached turned him down. Musk's willingness to commit $6.5 million was seen as saving the company at its most vulnerable moment, giving him extraordinary leverage in negotiations.
Given these obstacles, Musk's terms made strategic sense for both parties. For Tesla, securing $6.5 million from a single, deeply committed investor who believed in the mission, was a lifeline. It provided enough capital to develop a mass-production prototype. For Musk, investing the majority of the round and taking the Chairman role gave him operational control and a massive equity stake, justifying the personal financial risk. In essence, Tesla had to "give away the farm" because, in the eyes of nearly every traditional investor in 2004, there was no farm to begin with. It was just a wildly ambitious plan in an industry where startups almost never succeeded.
Initially, Musk's role as Chairman was described as strategic and financial, while Eberhard remained CEO. The founders reportedly viewed Musk as an "angel". Importantly, since Elon Musk was seen as a savior and as someone who shared their vision of EVs, the founders saw no danger in giving him that much political power in both ownership and executive position. That was a big mistake, as you will soon see. It is obvious from Musk's record with Confinity (PayPal) [24] and OpenAI [25] that he would always scheme for full control and oust all challengers, but the founders weren't aware of that at the time. However, Musk used his authority as Chairman to pressure Eberhard on design and staffing, gradually positioned himself as the public face of Tesla, and eventually orchestrated Eberhard's removal in 2007.
"Musk was brought on as a crucial early investor but he soon used his clout, money, and ... strong-arm tactics to oust Eberhard and Tarpenning and eventually install himself as CEO of Tesla." [26] The reference link contains an audio by "Musk experts" with useful information. It seems that the relation between founders and investors was amicable enough for the first perhaps two years, until Musk's bullying sociopathic nature began to emerge. Around that time, "Musk began to exert his authority as Board Chairman, pressuring Eberhard to fire people, make wildly difficult design fixes to the company’s early lineup of EVs, and then [force Eberhard to] step aside as Musk positioned himself at the forefront of Tesla’s public introduction to the world. Musk began the path that would lead him to take control of Tesla and increase his ownership stake through nine rounds of funding that gradually reduced the relevance of the Eberhard and Tarpenning packages and culminated in the 2010 Initial Public Offering". [27] If you recall Musk's character vividly demonstrated at x.com/Confinity (PayPal) [28] and OpenAI, [29] with his determination to have full control and no opposition, the tendency was repeated with Tesla.
Musk planned a gradual takeover, not immediate control, and waited to position himself as the public face of Tesla. There are many documented references of Musk leading 9 rounds of financing, but in each case maintaining his share of Tesla while ensuring that the shareholdings of Eberhard and Tarpenning were reduced. This eventually left Musk with either voting control or a large share of the vote, and this is what was used to remove Eberhard. Also, it appears that many of those initial investors in Tesla were friends of Elon Musk, and would have voted with him to remove the original founders. It seems clear this was a plan from the beginning, and the disputes over the Roadster cost were just a convenient cover to do what Musk had always intended to do.
The Forbes and Forbes Italy media sources strongly support the assertion that total control was systematically planned from the beginning through financial maneuvers. The official narrative states that disputes over the Roadster's development and economics were the primary cause for Eberhard's ousting, but this was merely a pretext for a long-planned power grab. The Forbes Italy articles clearly describe Musk's funding rounds diluting the founders' shares while maintaining his own, and connecting this to his eventual control of the board. It seems the Roadster cost issues were just a smokescreen obscuring premeditation, in spite of Musk's attempts to frame them as reactive crisis management.
This perfectly connects the financial mechanics to the eventual leadership change. The evidence strongly supports the interpretation that Musk's path to control was a deliberate, financially-engineered strategy, and the reported management disputes over the Roadster's costs and delays served as the execution mechanism. Musk’s PayPal history is particularly relevant here as it shows a pattern. The core mechanism was that Elon Musk "personally" led multiple funding rounds that diluted the founders' stakes while preserving his own. This is a classic control play in startup ventures. Each new funding round issues new shares. If the original founders (Eberhard & Tarpenning) couldn't afford to invest more to maintain their percentage, their ownership and voting power shrank. Musk, by leading these rounds, could keep his share high. Reports state he invested around $50 million in total by 2008, far beyond his initial contribution.
As the largest and most critical investor, Musk gained significant influence over the Board of Directors, and also over the composition of the Board. More on this later. By 2007, with the company burning cash and the Roadster delayed, Musk, as Chairman and the financial lifeline, was positioned to lead that shift in sentiment that led to the firing of the founders. The evidence suggests a blend of Musk's inherent desire for control and the clever exploitation of a crisis. Musk's experience being ousted from PayPal in 2000 [30] was formative. He stated it taught him to retain operational control. It's logical he would enter Tesla determined not to let that happen again. Thus, as the dominant investor, Musk displaced the original technical founders and CEO through board influence and relentless pressure, leading to acrimonious exits and legal battles.
The development of the Roadster began in October of 2004, and by January of 2005, a final, fully drivable prototype built by 18 engineers was born. Mass production of the Roadster was planned to begin in early 2006. [31] They eventually produced 2,450 of these cars based on the Lotus Elise chassis.
To this point, Elon Musk was nowhere to be seen. On June 19, 2006, the final production prototype of the Tesla Roadster was presented to the public at the Santa Monica airport in California. Martin Eberhard was the speaker, with Elon Musk lurking detached in the background and keeping a low profile. [32] But in reality, he had already begun the motions to take complete control of the company. It seems apparent that from the time of his initial contribution, Musk was already scheming to take control of Tesla and oust the founders. Two investigative researchers, Milena Gabanelli and Andrea Priante, covered this period quite well in articles for Forbes Italy. [33]
The Tesla Roadster
Martin Eberhard posing with the first Telsa Roadster. Source:
First, the Official Narrative: “The story of the first Tesla car - the Roadster - is one of a company overcoming seemingly insurmountable technical hurdles under the extreme pressure of potential failure. The founders' original vision met the hard realities of automotive manufacturing, leading to a pivotal leadership change - from the original founders to Elon Musk, the Reluctant Messiah - that set Tesla on its future course.”
But the facts lend little support to this sycophantic stream of consciousness. It is true that the development of the company's first entry into the EV market, the Roadster, had "some issues". In fact, according to Elon Musk himself, it had multiple crises erupting simultaneously in 2007, with the transmission being the most serious. At a Tesla annual shareholder meeting, Musk was remarkably candid, stating flatly that, "Despite meeting all regulatory requirements, this vehicle is completely unsafe". [34] Musk freely admitted that in the early days they (he) had "no idea what we were doing," and characterised their (his) original efforts as "completely clueless". [35] He stated further that the car "frequently malfunctioned", "often got stuck in second gear", “was completely unsafe,” it “broke down all the time,” and it “didn’t really work”. [36]
Musk recounted a story where he test-drove an early Roadster for Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, only for the car to fail to reach 10 mph. "I told them, I swear to you, this car can go much faster than it does now." He noted that the two Google founders "were so kind that after the worst product demo in history, they still paid the company." To say that early Tesla Roadsters had many serious problems, would be an understatement. This, in a car designed by the inventive genius of Elon Musk. The car was repeatedly re-designed (flaw removal and damage control) until taken out of production in 2012. And there were recalls. [37]
A Little Bit of Knowledge ....
Elon Musk and the Dunning-Kruger effect.
There is a saying in English that “a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing”, a thesis heavily supported in psychology by a condition known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. This psychological phenomenon is a mental deformity, a cognitive bias of self-deception whereby “people with limited knowledge or competence in a given domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain”. [38] This is a circumstance Elon Musk perfectly exemplifies. He has exhibited it in every known endeavor he has so far attempted. Tesla was no exception.
I wrote earlier that Musk began to exert his authority as board chairman, pressuring Eberhard to fire people, make wildly difficult design fixes to the company’s early lineup of EVs. The place where Musk perhaps interfered the most was in engineering with the transmission of the Roadster, and definitely with the most financially-destructive consequences. I won't provide unnecessary technical detail here, but Musk disapproved of the proposed transmission design and demanded something more complex. But the engineering R&D proved time-consuming and expensive, with solutions not coming quickly. Yet Musk persisted with his demands and the staff, including Eberhard, attempted to comply. This alone drove the company to the very edge of bankruptcy. The original R&D budget for the transmission project was $25 million but ballooned to over $140 million, pushing the manufacturing cost per car from $65,000 to more than $120,000, and delaying the car's release by more than one year.
Eberhard's later lawsuit directly accused Musk of micromanagement, stating that his interventions in the engineering and design were destructively meddlesome and caused the enormous cost overruns, while Musk of course denied that his "suggestions" were responsible for the cost increases. The Roadster was finally complete (more or less) in 2008, and went on the market at the base price of $108,000. [39]
The Dispute And Fallout
Tesla was suffering multiple existential crises. The money was nearly gone, staff were leaving, the Roadster was mostly a bag of insoluble problems, nobody was getting along, and Musk needed (1) cash and (2) a scapegoat. According to Musk, the early estimates of development and production costs were provided by Eberhard, but he (Musk) suddenly "discovered" that the costs had increased enormously. These numbers formed the basis of the accusations between Eberhard and Musk. Eberhard argued that Musk’s micromanagement and interference caused the massive cost overruns and delays that almost bankrupted Tesla. This, in 2007, led to Eberhard's ouster, [40] [41] [42] Tarpenning following suit shortly after.
However, consider that Elon Musk was the company's most senior executive, and Tesla would certainly have had a finance executive (or at least a book-keeper). Given this, and the fact that the R&D stretched over two years, it seems unlikely that Musk "suddenly discovered" that a $25 million cost had increased to $140 million. Even an incompetent senior executive would have been watching the expenses during those two years, would have seen quarterly financial and other reports, and would almost certainly have been up to date on the financial picture. Musk's claim that Eberhard lied to the Board about the real costs and tried to hide them, doesn't seem to hold much water.
In August 2007, the Board removed Eberhard as CEO. He was offered the title of "President of Technology" but actually pushed out by the end of the year. By October 2008, with the company still in crisis, Musk assumed the CEO role himself. Musk's financial strategy systematically built the leverage (board control and share ownership), while the operational crisis with the Roadster (almost entirely self-inflicted) provided the timely justification to execute a change in leadership that he undoubtedly directed.
Musk's version (Tesla's official version) was that "because of management mistakes and cost control issues, founder Martin Eberhard was dismissed as CEO in 2007". Further that Eberhard was fired unanimously by the board for providing "false information" on "costs/schedule and for operational failures". [43] Musk resorted heavily Twitter to make his points and garner public support: "In mid-2007, Eberhard was removed from his position as CEO of Tesla for providing false information to me and the board". Musk also made posts to refute claims that he "stole" the company from Martin Eberhard. [44]
Musk wrote a voluminous Twitter post in an effort "to correct several misconceptions propagated by Martin that are now being reported as truth". In it, he wrote, "it soon became apparent that Eberhard had in fact known that the cost was far in excess of his estimate and that there was no chance of meeting the promised production schedule". Musk stated this failure was the reason there was "no way that Eberhard could be allowed to remain as part of Tesla at that point".
I should note that while we get clear numbers from Musk's defensive - and very public - Twitter posts about Eberhard, we don't have Eberhard's original lawsuit with his specific cost allocation claims also posted on Twitter. We know only of his argument that Musk's micromanagement and interference were to blame. The court settlement being confidential means we only have one side's detailed financial and other claims. However, Elon Musk definitely won the media war.
One of Elon Musk’s posts denigrating Eberhard. Source:
It would seem that Musk developed a hated for Eberhard, so much so that he refused to admit that he (Eberhard) was the original founder of Tesla, along with Tarpenning. Musk went so far as to actively deny Eberhard's claim to be a founder of Tesla, stating that Eberhard owned no IP related to electric cars, had no technology of his own, and that Eberhard "brought nothing to the Tesla party". Interestingly, Elon Musk himself precisely fits this description, yet he considers himself THE founder of Tesla.
After forcing Eberhard out of the company, Musk stated that he "was the worst person I have ever worked with in all my life". But, from everything I can derive from the historical record, the conflict was created by Musk's "hands-on" involvement and his constant interference in areas where he had no knowledge and even less ability. Further, Musk not only made perpetual demands that everything be done his way, but he created relentless pressure that "his way" be done under violently unrealistic timelines. It was this, more than anything else, that led to the acrimonious exits and legal battles. In each case, and there have been many of these, as the dominant investor, Musk reacted to criticism or disagreement by displacing the executives or original founders and taking full control. This pattern is abundantly evident throughout Elon Musk's entire corporate history.
The Lawsuit
"His behavior changed dramatically as soon as we started having press about Tesla," Eberhard said. "He got mad if anything was ever written about Tesla and it didn't feature his name prominently. And that's when I realized that there was an ego involved here that I hadn't recognized before. Eberhard, who at the time had the nickname "Mr. Tesla," said that anytime Musk wasn't mentioned in an article about the company, Musk would call him and "scream" at him. Source
Eberhard filed suit against Tesla and Elon Musk for defamation, libel, and slander. [45] You can access the entire court document here. [46] Eberhard claimed Musk tried to "rewrite history" and blame him for delays/costs caused by Musk's own interference. It stated that Musk had almost wrecked Tesla Motors during the period when Eberhard was CEO - and that after Eberhard's ousting Musk had slanderously tried to shift the blame. In the 146-page lawsuit, Eberhard also accused Musk and Tesla of breach of contract.
Oddly, one of the benefits Eberhard was to receive as CEO, was the second Roadster off the production line, part of the so-called "Founder's Series" that were claimed to be potentially worth several million dollars each from their historical value and because they were "one of a kind". Musk delivered on the promise, but only after "someone" smashed Eberhard's car into the back of a truck in the Tesla parking lot, the car suffering perhaps "an excess of damage". You can draw whatever conclusions you believe appropriate.
The Settlement
But then it all went silent. Eberhard dropped his lawsuit because the dispute was settled out of court and a gag order had been issued. [47] [48]
The specific judgment from the 2009 lawsuit was not publicly released, as the case was settled out of court and subject to a gag order. However, multiple sources agree that one outcome was the recognition that Tesla has five official co-founders, including Elon Musk. As part of this agreement, Musk, Straubel, and Wright were formally "allowed" to be listed as co-founders, a status they did not legally hold prior to the lawsuit. Most other specific terms of the settlement, including any potential admissions, apologies, or payments, remain confidential. However, the settlement included a mutual non-disparagement clause, where Musk and Eberhard agreed to silence their negative opinions of each other.
Despite this court order, Musk's public disparagements immediately continued, calling Eberhard "the worst person I've ever had to work with". Musk's Twitter posts included accusations that Eberhard's terrible management decisions, disregard for talent, poor engineering, and major mistakes in the supply chain can be said to have "almost killed Tesla". [49] [50]
Eberhard did not reciprocate, but accused Musk of violating the court-ordered agreement. To no avail, unfortunately, since laws do not apply to Elon Musk. [51] In any case, after the court-sanctioned agreement, Eberhard dropped his lawsuit and related claims against Musk. But we shouldn't lose one of the main points which is that the court-ordered settlement included Eberhard being acknowledged as a co-founder (of his own company), meaning Musk could no longer claim that he, and not Eberhard, was the "founder" of Tesla. Musk defied this order as well, as can be seen in the claims on the Tesla website that Elon Musk founded Tesla, with Eberhard's name nowhere to be seen.
It was interesting to note that the public announcements of the judgment from the lawsuit were exclusively that Musk was permitted to claim founder rights to Tesla, and that Eberhard was required to confirm this. None of the media reports mentioned that in return, Musk was ordered to publicly admit that Eberhard was an original founder of the company. Elon Musk was so determined to make the original Tesla founders “disappear” and take full credit for founding the company, that it required a court decision to determine the actual founders. This accurate history is not just a detail. Musk's presenting himself as starting from zero as the single visionary leader of Tesla, is a false narrative. The documented contributions of Eberhard, Tarpenning, and Straubel were fundamental to creating the foundation upon which Tesla was built. [52] [53]
As to the non-disparagement portion of the court order, Musk and Eberhard issued the following statements. [54] You are welcome to laugh. I certainly did.
Eberhard:
"As a co-founder of the company, Elon's contributions to Tesla have been extraordinary."
Musk:
"Without Martin's indispensable efforts, Tesla Motors would not be here today."
And then the "Messiah Propaganda" kicked in:
The bitter fight over the "founder" title and the blame for the Roadster's problems fits a long-standing pattern of shaping historical narrative to support a specific pre-determined legend. In this case, that of “Elon Musk, the Reluctant Messiah”, heavily promoted by Elon Musk’s handlers.
“The story of the first Roadster is one of a company overcoming seemingly insurmountable technical hurdles under the extreme pressure of potential failure. The founders' original vision met the hard realities of automotive manufacturing, leading to a pivotal leadership change that set Tesla on its future course. Elon Musk played a pivotal role in this difficult time. As chairman and lead investor, Elon Musk forced the engineering shift to the one-speed transmission and took over as CEO to steer the company through the crisis, securing vital investments and a $465 million U.S. government loan to keep Tesla afloat.”
Almost nothing in the above paragraph is true, certainly not the statements about Musk.
This essay has merely set the stage. The juicy parts of the Tesla story are to come.
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Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 34 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes’. (Chap. 2 — Dealing with Demons).
His full archive can be seen at
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ + https://www.moonofshanghai.com/
He can be contacted at: 2186604556@qq.com
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NOTES - Part 21 (1 of 3)
[1] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 16 — The Manufactured Messiah https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/21910/
[2] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 20 — Optimus, the Failed Fraud https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/23169/ [3] The Beauty and the Beast — IRON and Optimus: A Tale of Two Robots https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/22955/ [4] Guiding Light: Why Google’s Hand-Built, Fully Autonomous "Firefly" Mattered https://www.motortrend.com/features/google-car-firefly-why-it-mattered [5] Google Introduces Self-Driving Electric Car https://www.automotive-fleet.com/125088/google-introduces-self-driving-electric-car [6] How Waymo went from secret Google project to dominant robotaxi company https://abc7news.com/post/driverless-cars-waymo-history-secret-google-self-driving-car-project-robotaxi-company-darpa/16775642/ [7] China’s Electric Vehicles (EVs) https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/20227/ [8] The Politics of Electric Cars (EVs) https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/20312/ [9] Tesla under Elon Musk made the first best electric car. But will it make the next? https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/tesla-elon-musk-electric-vehicle-b2496076.html [10] Elon Musk https://www.tesla.com/elon-musk [11] Tesla founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning talk about the early days and bringing on Elon Musk https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/06/tesla-founders-martin-eberhard-marc-tarpenning-on-elon-musk.html [12] Original Tesla Founder Is Sad That Musk Made a ‘Truck That Looks Like a Dumpster’ https://gizmodo.com/original-tesla-founder-is-sad-that-musk-made-a-truck-that-looks-like-a-dumpster-2000636144#comments [13] The story of Tesla's five founders. And why only two became billionaires https://forbes.it/2021/11/18/tesla-fondatori-elon-musk-solo-due-miliardari/ This article also appeared on Forbes.com [14] Eleven years of counterattack history (2003-2014): Is Tesla overvalued? https://news.bjx.com.cn/html/20140928/550887-1.shtml [15] Tesla: An innovative journey of electric legends https://news.yiche.com/hao/wenzhang/103693346/ [16] Excerpt from the original text of "Silicon Valley Iron Man" https://book.douban.com/subject/36185249/blockquotes?sort=score&start=340 [17] Welcoming the Future Tesla's Past and Present Life (Part 1) https://chejiahao.autohome.com.cn/info/5552365 [18] Tesla existed before Elon Musk: Founders on how they pitched the idea https://beta.greencarreports.com/news/1131215_tesla-existed-before-elon-musk-founders-on-how-they-pitched-the-idea [19] From the 1st to the 1 million, Tesla's "Fury Road" https://www.geekpark.net/news/257123?hmsr=joyk.com&utm_source=joyk.com&utm_medium=referral [20] Tesla Fremont Factory https://webarchiveweb.wayback.bac-lac.canada.ca/web/20210801071700/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Factory [21] Excerpt from the original text of "Silicon Valley Iron Man" https://book.douban.com/subject/36185249/blockquotes?sort=score&start=340 [22] Learn about Tesla's past and present life, how it became an electric vehicle giant in less than 20 years https://chejiahao.autohome.com.cn/info/16302868 [23] Tesla's Past and NIO's Present https://www.laohu8.com/post/293373 [24] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 9 — Zip2, x.com, PayPal https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/21712/ [25] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 11 — OpenAI https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/21751/ [26] How Elon Musk took over Tesla using money, strong-arm tactics, and his own popularity https://www.theverge.com/23815634/tesla-elon-musk-origin-founder-twitter-land-of-the-giants [27] The story of Tesla's five founders. And why only two became billionaires https://forbes.it/2021/11/18/tesla-fondatori-elon-musk-solo-due-miliardari/ (This article appeared on Forbes.com) [28] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 9 — Zip2, x.com, PayPal https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/21712/ [29] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 11 — OpenAI https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/21751/ [30] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 9 — Zip2, x.com, PayPal https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/21712/ [31] Excerpt from the original text of "Silicon Valley Iron Man" https://book.douban.com/subject/36185249/blockquotes?sort=score&start=340 [32] Tesla, why Musk sells fewer cars but is worth more than everyone else on the stock market https://www.corriere.it/dataroom-milena-gabanelli/auto-tesla-perche-musk-vende-meno-ma-in-borsa-vale-piu-di-tutti/d7c7a6a0-4414-4302-a998-8d824d028xlk.shtml?refresh_ce [33] The story of Tesla's five founders. And why only two became billionaires https://forbes.it/2021/11/18/tesla-fondatori-elon-musk-solo-due-miliardari/ This article also appeared on Forbes.com [34] Musk: The first generation of Tesla is "completely unsafe", but in 2019 its upgraded version is coming https://startup.aliyun.com/info/1043128.html [35] The year 2016: Elon Musk admits to shareholders that the Tesla Roadster was a disaster. http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a29378/elon-musk-admits-to-shareholders-that-the-tesla-roadster-was-a-disaster/ [36] Elon Musk Confessions: All the Stupid Things Tesla Has Done https://fortune.com/2016/05/31/elon-musk-confessions-tesla/ [37] Eleven years of counterattack history (2003-2014): Is Tesla overvalued? https://news.bjx.com.cn/html/20140928/550887-4.shtml [38] What is the Dunning-Kruger effect? https://www.britannica.com/science/Dunning-Kruger-effect [39] Tesla, why Musk sells fewer cars but is worth more than everyone else on the stock market https://www.corriere.it/dataroom-milena-gabanelli/auto-tesla-perche-musk-vende-meno-ma-in-borsa-vale-piu-di-tutti/d7c7a6a0-4414-4302-a998-8d824d028xlk.shtml?refresh_ce [40] Eberhard was eventually “voted off the island” , resulting in a contentious lawsuit and eventual settlement. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/06/tesla-founders-martin-eberhard-marc-tarpenning-on-elon-musk.html [41 Co-founder Martin Eberhard leaves Tesla https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/12/05/co-founder-martin-eberhard-leaves-tesla/?shared=email&msg=fail The Mercury News; 2007/12/05 [42] 2007: Tesla ousts co-founder Martin Eberhard https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/12/05/2007-tesla-ousts-co-founder-martin-eberhard/?msg=fail&shared=email The Mercury News; 2007/12/05 [43] Stealing Tesla from others? Musk refuted: Co-founder ousted CEO for false information https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20201012A091RS00?suid=&media_id= [44] In-depth丨Tesla research report https://news.bjx.com.cn/html/20200207/1040820.shtml [45] Tesla Motors Co-Founder Sues CEO For Libel https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/tesla-motors-co-founder-sues-ceo-for-libel [46] San Mateo Court http://openaccess1.sanmateocourt.org/getpdf/pdftemp/200906101523474407/A-0000081554-1.pdf [47] Musk/Tesla Motors lawsuit by former exec dropped. Nobody wants to say why https://www.theregister.com/2009/08/21/musk_eberhard_lawsuit_dropped/ [48] Elon Musk, Eberhard 'resolve' Tesla Motors wrangle https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/22/tesla_eberhard_lawsuit_resolved [49] Tesla's 5 founders, but only 2 became billionaires! https://techorange.com/2021/12/02/tesla-only-two-get-really-rich/ [50] Tesla Founders https://forbes.it/2021/11/18/tesla-fondatori-elon-musk-solo-due-miliardari/ This article also appeared on Forbes.com [51] Martin Eberhard on Tesla https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/ousted-tesla-cofounder-martin-eberhard-sounds-off-on-elon-musk-how-the-company-has-changed-and-the-ev-wars/articleshow/98045714.cms [52] Tesla founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning talk about the early days and bringing on Elon Musk https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/06/tesla-founders-martin-eberhard-marc-tarpenning-on-elon-musk.html [53 Stealing Tesla from others? Musk refuted: Co-founder ousted CEO for false information https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20201012A091RS00?suid=&media_id= [54] Elon Musk, Eberhard 'resolve' Tesla Motors wrangle https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/22/tesla_eberhard_lawsuit_resolved *This article may contain copyrighted material, the use of which has not been specifically authorised by the copyright owner. This content is being made available under the Fair Use doctrine, and is for educational and information purposes only. There is no commercial use of this content.
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