preach the wiki page for the car has a couple interesting things -- Tom Gage and Alan Cocconi are the dudes in the video (I think): https://en.wikipedia.org/w

preach the wiki page for the car has a couple interesting things -- Tom Gage and Alan Cocconi are the dudes in the video (I think): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_Propulsion_tzero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_Propulsion_tzero The tzero is a handmade electric sports car designed and built in very limited numbers by the U.S. company AC Propulsion in the early 2000s. It was the direct predecessor of the Tesla line of electric cars. i guess when Gage and Cocconi (and others?) didn't want to commercialize/productionize that particular prototype, Eberhard and Tarpenning went off to found Tesla to do it. JB Straubel then told Elon Musk about the newly converted, now lithium-ion powered tzero and arranged a test drive. Musk also encouraged AC Propulsion to commercialize the vehicle. Tom Gage, however, again deferred in favor of working on their electrified Scion xB called the eBox. But he put Elon Musk in contact with Martin Eberhard which led to Elon Musk's Series A funding of Tesla Motors in April, 2004 and their hiring JB Straubel. there are so many 'founders' and commingling of various projects and ventures, it's difficult to keep track. when i lived in palo alto back in the day (2005??) i remember some local crazies doing '100-mile range electric car conversions (of gas-powered cars)' - like, either showed up on Meetup.com or flyers or farmers markets. bet a bunch of these early e-car people would have some fun stories.