Debt - China Loan Agreements - Additional Information (Detail) - Unsecured Revolving Facility [Member] - China Loan Agreements [Member] - CNY (¥)	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
May 31, 2020	Sep. 30, 2020
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Senior asset-based revolving credit agreement, total lender commitments	¥ 4,000,000,000.00
Maturity date	2021-06
U.S. Dollar-denominated Loans [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument interest rate description		(ii) for U.S. dollar-denominated loans, the sum of one-year LIBOR plus 0.8%.
Peoples Bank of China One-year Rate [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument percentage of interest rate on variable rate	0.35%
LIBOR [Member] \| U.S. Dollar-denominated Loans [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument basis spread on variable rate	0.80%

Debt instrument percentage of interest rate on variable rate.

No definition available.

Name:	tsla_DebtInstrumentPercentageOfInterestRateOnVariableRate
Namespace Prefix:	tsla_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line of credit facility maturity month and year.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	tsla_LineOfCreditFacilityMaturityMonthAndYear
Namespace Prefix:	tsla_
Data Type:	xbrli:gYearMonthItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage points added to the reference rate to compute the variable rate on the debt instrument.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentBasisSpreadOnVariableRate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The reference rate for the variable rate of the debt instrument, such as LIBOR or the US Treasury rate and the maturity of the reference rate used, such as three months or six months LIBOR.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=tsla_UnsecuredRevolvingLoanFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=tsla_ChinaLoanAgreementsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis=tsla_USDollarDenominatedLoansMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableRateAxis=tsla_PeoplesBankOfChinaOneYearRateMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableRateAxis=us-gaap_LondonInterbankOfferedRateLIBORMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: