Successful electric vehicle company Tesla Motors is no longer just a startup, reporting a 55% increase in deliveries in the quarter between January and March in 2015. Tesla Motors has reportedly sold 10,030 electric vehicles so far this year, compared to the 6457 electric vehicles sold in the same period last year.

The boost in sales is a step in Tesla’s very ambitious goal of selling 500,000 cars annually by 2020. Since the 2012 third quarter (July to September) of only 263 sales, to the 5000 sales in the 2013 third quarter, Tesla has doubled its reported sales again. The company has seen steady and even rapid sale increases every quarter with only one dip at the beginning of 2014.

The genius behind Tesla, Elon Musk, also happens to be the CEO of private space exploration company SpaceX and chairman of SolarCity. His plan has been to release a low volume high cost vehicle first, followed by a medium volume medium cost vehicle, and finally by a high volume low cost vehicle. The company first released the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car released in 2008. The $109,000 sports car has since been discontinued in production. Tesla followed in 2012 with the Tesla Model S, setting another precedent as the first fully electric luxury sedan, priced between $59,900 and $104,500 (based on battery capacity).

Phase three of Musk’s plan is on its way with a Tesla Model X set to release this year, followed by the Tesla Model 3 set to release in 2017. Electric vehicle enthusiasts can expect to pay $35,000 for the Model 3.

“[The Model 3 will] be an Audi A4, BMW 3-series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class type of vehicle that will offer everything: range, affordability, and performance with a starting price of US$30,000,” design chief Franz  von Holzhausen said.

Tesla also reported low sales in China since distribution in 2014, which Musk has attributed to “a misconception that charging was difficult.”

The company has come a long way since its conception in 2003, hovering near failure before being personally funded by Elon Musk, and finally securing a series of investments including a large loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“New technology in any field takes a few versions to optimize before reaching the mass market, and in this case it is competing with 150 years and trillions of dollars spent on gasoline cars,” Musk wrote in a blog post.

With Tesla’s become more common and affordable, it is not unlikely the company may reach its ambitious goal.

FSA Practice Questions

1. Who is the CEO of Tesla Motors?
2. How successful is Tesla motors?
3. What does the word attributed mean?
4. What is the main idea of the story?
5. What is Tesla’s ambitious goal?