Business Combinations - Schedule of Fair Values of the Identified Intangible Assets and their Useful Lives (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets, Fair Value	$ 404,912	$ 383,189
Grohmann Engineering GmbH [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets, Fair Value	21,723
Grohmann Engineering GmbH [Member] \| Software [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible assets, Fair Value	$ 3,341
Useful Life (in years)	3 years
Grohmann Engineering GmbH [Member] \| Other [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible assets, Fair Value	$ 843
Useful Life (in years)	2 years
Grohmann Engineering GmbH [Member] \| Developed technology [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible assets, Fair Value	$ 12,528
Useful Life (in years)	10 years
Grohmann Engineering GmbH [Member] \| Customer relations [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible assets, Fair Value	$ 3,236
Useful Life (in years)	6 years
Grohmann Engineering GmbH [Member] \| Trade name [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible assets, Fair Value	$ 1,775
Useful Life (in years)	7 years

Weighted average amortization period of finite-lived intangible assets acquired either individually or as part of a group of assets, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16265-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AcquiredFiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsWeightedAverageUsefulLife
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Fair value portion of assets, excluding financial assets, that lack physical substance, having a limited useful life.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66048111&loc=d3e19190-110258

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before accumulated amortization of intangible assets, excluding goodwill.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IntangibleAssetsGrossExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=tsla_GrohmannEngineeringGmbHMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=tsla_SoftwareMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_OtherIntangibleAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_DevelopedTechnologyRightsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=tsla_CustomerRelationsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_TradeNamesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: