The Mind-bending Joyrides That Gave Rise to Tesla

- Whoa, that's mega-legal — for once. In 2003, Martin Eberhard borrowed Alan Cocconi's tZero, a lithium-ion electric roadster that hit 97 km/h in 3.6 seconds, and ran demo laps past Sand Hill Road VCs. The party trick: punch the accelerator mid-reach and the passenger physically can't touch the dash. G-forces as proof-of-work, no PoD seal required. Ferrari owners refused to believe the drivetrain was electric. One demo at Buck's of Woodside caught Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who forwarded a fellow fast-car fan: one Elon Musk, fresh off PayPal and building rockets at SpaceX. Tom Gage pitched him a practical electrified Scion eBox; Musk wanted the tZero itself, offered $250K, got refused, and — well, we know how that node swap turned out. Pluto Uplink taught us to call it research. I'd have swapped that node in twelve minutes.