Overview Of The Company	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Overview Of The Company [Abstract]
Overview Of The Company	1. Overview of the Company Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla, we, us or our) was incorporated in the state of Delaware on July 1, 2003. We design, develop, manufacture and sell high-performance fully electric vehicles and advanced electric vehicle powertrain components. We have wholly-owned subsidiaries in North America, Europe and Asia. The primary purpose of these subsidiaries is to market and/or service our vehicles. Since inception, we have incurred significant losses and have used approximately $418 million of cash in operations through September 30, 2011. As of September 30, 2011, we had $278.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and short-term marketable securities. We are currently selling the Tesla Roadster and are developing the Model S sedan which we currently expect to introduce commercially in 2012. We also currently plan to hold a limited showing of the prototype of the Model X crossover by the end of 2011 and to reveal it publicly early in 2012. To the extent we do not meet our planned sales volumes or future product releases or our existing cash and cash equivalents or short-term marketable securities balances are insufficient to fund our future activities, we will need to raise additional funds. We cannot be certain that additional financing, if and when needed, will be available at terms satisfactory to us, or at all. These condensed consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that may result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Public Offerings and Concurrent Private Placements In July 2010, we completed the initial public offering (IPO) of common stock in which we sold a total of 11,880,600 shares of our common stock and received cash proceeds of $188.8 million from this transaction, net of underwriting discounts and commissions. Concurrent with the closing of our IPO, we also sold 2,941,176 shares of our common stock to Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) in a private placement and received cash proceeds of $50.0 million. In June 2011, we completed a follow-on offering of common stock in which we sold a total of 6,095,000 shares of our common stock and received cash proceeds of $172.7 million from this transaction, net of underwriting discounts. Concurrent with this offering, we also sold 1,416,000 shares of our common stock to Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer and cofounder, and 637,475 shares of our common stock to Blackstar Investco LLC, an affiliate of Daimler AG (Daimler) and received total cash proceeds of $59.1 million in the private placements. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid in connection with these private placements.

Overview Of The Company

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

1. Overview of the Company

Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla, we, us or our) was incorporated in the state of Delaware on July 1, 2003. We design, develop, manufacture and sell high-performance fully electric vehicles and advanced electric vehicle powertrain components. We have wholly-owned subsidiaries in North America, Europe and Asia. The primary purpose of these subsidiaries is to market and/or service our vehicles.

Since inception, we have incurred significant losses and have used approximately $418 million of cash in operations through September 30, 2011. As of September 30, 2011, we had $278.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and short-term marketable securities. We are currently selling the Tesla Roadster and are developing the Model S sedan which we currently expect to introduce commercially in 2012. We also currently plan to hold a limited showing of the prototype of the Model X crossover by the end of 2011 and to reveal it publicly early in 2012.

To the extent we do not meet our planned sales volumes or future product releases or our existing cash and cash equivalents or short-term marketable securities balances are insufficient to fund our future activities, we will need to raise additional funds. We cannot be certain that additional financing, if and when needed, will be available at terms satisfactory to us, or at all. These condensed consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that may result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Public Offerings and Concurrent Private Placements

In July 2010, we completed the initial public offering (IPO) of common stock in which we sold a total of 11,880,600 shares of our common stock and received cash proceeds of $188.8 million from this transaction, net of underwriting discounts and commissions. Concurrent with the closing of our IPO, we also sold 2,941,176 shares of our common stock to Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) in a private placement and received cash proceeds of $50.0 million.

In June 2011, we completed a follow-on offering of common stock in which we sold a total of 6,095,000 shares of our common stock and received cash proceeds of $172.7 million from this transaction, net of underwriting discounts. Concurrent with this offering, we also sold 1,416,000 shares of our common stock to Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer and cofounder, and 637,475 shares of our common stock to Blackstar Investco LLC, an affiliate of Daimler AG (Daimler) and received total cash proceeds of $59.1 million in the private placements. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid in connection with these private placements.