Electric-powered vehicles have been around in one form or another since the 1800s, but Tesla was one the first companies to create a viable mass-market EV and successfully bring electric cars into the mainstream.
Tesla started producing its first luxury electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in 2006, almost 10 years after Toyota launched the wildly successful hybrid electric Prius, in 1997. The Prius went on to become the world’s first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle in 2000.