Wikipedia: Musk is a co-founder and currently head of product design at Tesla Motors. He oversaw development of the Tesla Roadster ( their first product ). Mus

Wikipedia: Musk is a co-founder and currently head of product design at Tesla Motors. He oversaw development of the Tesla Roadster ( their first product ). Musk's interest in electric vehicles extends long before the creation of Tesla. Musk began by hiring Martin Eberhard as CEO and a management team and provided almost all of the capital for Tesla's first two funding rounds, giving him a controlling interest from the start. As a result of the financial crisis in 2008 and a forced layoff at Tesla,[28] Musk was forced to assume the additional responsibility of CEO. Wikipedia also states Tesla was founded 2003. In 2003, two independent teams, consisting of Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning and Ian Wright on the one hand, and Musk and JB Straubel on the other, both sought to commercialize the T-Zero prototype electric sports car created by AC Propulsion. Tom Gage, the president of AC Propulsion, suggested that the two teams join forces to maximize the chances of success. They agreed to merge their efforts, with Musk becoming chairman and overall head of product design, Eberhard becoming CEO and Straubel becoming CTO. - I personally think he rightfully deserves all the credit given to him now. Electric cars are not a new invention the commercialization of them is new and also a unique success in this field.