A carmaker that also builds its own factories, batteries, and chips
Tesla Inc. designs and sells electric vehicles, cars powered by batteries instead of fuel, and energy-storage systems, which are battery installations that hold electricity for homes, businesses, and power grids. Households, companies, and utilities mostly buy or lease directly through Tesla's own website and stores rather than independent dealers. Each vehicle sale can create further income: charging on its Supercharger network, insurance, financing, maintenance, and paid Full Self-Driving driver-assistance software. A separate energy business sells and finances storage products. Tesla also builds its own factories, batteries, and increasingly the chips behind them, so it earns first from manufactured hardware and then from recurring services layered on top.