--- title: A New IEEE STEM Book Series for Tweens from TryEngineering description: An account of Tesla Motors' early history traces how Martin Eberhard's AC Propulsion tZero demo connected him and Marc Tarpenning to Elon Musk through Google's... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ieee-stem-book-series-for-tweens-from-tryengineering-rdikvzgzy twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A New IEEE STEM Book Series for Tweens from TryEngineering | daily.dev og:description: An account of Tesla Motors' early history traces how Martin Eberhard's AC Propulsion tZero demo connected him and Marc Tarpenning to Elon Musk through Google's... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ieee-stem-book-series-for-tweens-from-tryengineering-rdikvzgzy og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rDikvzGzY.png og:image:alt: A New IEEE STEM Book Series for Tweens from TryEngineering og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A New IEEE STEM Book Series for Tweens from TryEngineering **[IEEE Spectrum](https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum)** · 19 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An account of Tesla Motors' early history traces how Martin Eberhard's AC Propulsion tZero demo connected him and Marc Tarpenning to Elon Musk through Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Musk initially wanted to buy the tZero itself, later invested over $6 million to become Tesla's chairman and largest shareholder, and the founders battled unreliable drivetrain electronics, a battery fire hazard discovered in backyard testing, and a disastrous overseas supply chain involving a Thailand barbecue-grill manufacturer assembling battery packs. The narrative follows the 2006 Roadster reveal at Santa Monica Airport, celebrity buyers like Schwarzenegger and Clooney, and Tesla's eventual pivot toward in-house, vertically integrated manufacturing that led to the gigafactory concept. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How did Elon Musk first get connected to Tesla Motors? Musk was introduced through a chain starting with AC Propulsion's Tom Gage, who demoed the electric tZero roadster at Buck's of Woodside restaurant; Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were present and suggested Musk, a car enthusiast with liquid funds from selling PayPal, might be interested. Gage emailed Musk in January 2004, and after Musk showed no interest in AC Propulsion's eBox project, Gage redirected him to Martin Eberhard, leading Musk to invest $6.35 million in Tesla and become its chairman and largest shareholder. _daily.dev surfaces founder stories like this for developers tracking how startups actually get built and funded._ ### What manufacturing problems did Tesla face while building the original Roadster? Tesla's battery packs were initially assembled by a Thailand-based barbecue grill manufacturer in an open-air jungle facility with no walls, leading to contamination like animal droppings on packs and a six-month supply chain from cell production to finished pack. This drove up capital costs and multiplied design mistakes across huge inventories, prompting Tesla to bring battery, motor, and inverter manufacturing in-house to California, which eventually led to the gigafactory concept. _engineers researching manufacturing and supply chain pitfalls can find similar deep dives on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Paper2agent Turns Static Papers Into Live AI Tools](https://daily.dev/posts/paper2agent-turns-static-papers-into-live-ai-tools-cjn4igazh) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Robot Videos: Household Robots, Dexterous Hand, More](https://daily.dev/posts/robot-videos-household-robots-dexterous-hand-more-x631kcuwz) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why Secret Collaboration Is an AI Agent Security Risk](https://daily.dev/posts/why-secret-collaboration-is-an-ai-agent-security-risk-pegakccpc) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tesla unveils thruster-equipped Roadster, with production set for 2028](https://daily.dev/posts/tesla-unveils-thruster-equipped-roadster-with-production-set-for-2028-k5azdpapk) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [TechCrunch Mobility: Elon’s admission](https://daily.dev/posts/techcrunch-mobility-elon-s-admission-rzdp0nxuh) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#tech-news](https://daily.dev/tags/tech-news), [#tesla](https://daily.dev/tags/tesla) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ieee-stem-book-series-for-tweens-from-tryengineering-rdikvzgzy) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A New IEEE STEM Book Series for Tweens from TryEngineering","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ieee-stem-book-series-for-tweens-from-tryengineering-rdikvzgzy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ieee-stem-book-series-for-tweens-from-tryengineering-rdikvzgzy"},"datePublished":"2026-09-28T18:00:42.275Z","dateModified":"2026-09-28T18:01:09.354Z","description":"An account of Tesla Motors' early history traces how Martin Eberhard's AC Propulsion tZero demo connected him and Marc Tarpenning to Elon Musk through Google's...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/a2a88f50e91697fe0017156ad0ba63e6?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/a2a88f50e91697fe0017156ad0ba63e6?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"IEEE Spectrum","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"IEEE Spectrum","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/b123f5e8420e492ab36f6adb30c1793a","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ieee-stem-book-series-for-tweens-from-tryengineering-rdikvzgzy","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"tech-news,tesla","timeRequired":"PT19M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IEEE Spectrum","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A New IEEE STEM Book Series for Tweens from TryEngineering"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ieee-stem-book-series-for-tweens-from-tryengineering-rdikvzgzy#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How did Elon Musk first get connected to Tesla Motors?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Musk was introduced through a chain starting with AC Propulsion's Tom Gage, who demoed the electric tZero roadster at Buck's of Woodside restaurant; Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were present and suggested Musk, a car enthusiast with liquid funds from selling PayPal, might be interested. Gage emailed Musk in January 2004, and after Musk showed no interest in AC Propulsion's eBox project, Gage redirected him to Martin Eberhard, leading Musk to invest $6.35 million in Tesla and become its chairman and largest shareholder. daily.dev surfaces founder stories like this for developers tracking how startups actually get built and funded."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What manufacturing problems did Tesla face while building the original Roadster?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Tesla's battery packs were initially assembled by a Thailand-based barbecue grill manufacturer in an open-air jungle facility with no walls, leading to contamination like animal droppings on packs and a six-month supply chain from cell production to finished pack. This drove up capital costs and multiplied design mistakes across huge inventories, prompting Tesla to bring battery, motor, and inverter manufacturing in-house to California, which eventually led to the gigafactory concept. engineers researching manufacturing and supply chain pitfalls can find similar deep dives on daily.dev."}}]} ```