Tesla Motors is really humming.
Last year the electric-car company’s share price quadrupled while it sold more than 20,000 cars. And there’s a waiting list for every Model S sedan (at $100,000 a pop) that rolls out of the plant in Fremont, Calif.
Bottom line, the 10-year-old Silicon Valley startup is on its way to becoming a viable fourth US-based car company.
Elon Musk, the South African-born visionary behind Tesla, runs the car company much like Steve Jobs ran Apple. Technology and design are paramount, and he keeps a keen, Jobs-like eye on media. Musk appeared on stage last June at Tesla’s design studio near LA to introduce automated fast battery-swap stations to be strategically placed across the country. Replacing an entire panel of 7,000 reusable lithium-ion batteries will reportedly take only 90 seconds.
Determined to prove that the Model S can perform well on highways, Tesla has completed a network of free supercharging stations situated at 200-mile intervals on a transcontinental route linking Los Angeles with New York.
A half-charge, enough to zoom on to the next station, takes about 30 minutes.
Typically, six charging posts are in the unmanned facilities located in shopping-mall parking lots close to offramps.
Tesla says supercharging will be free forever, meaning that Tesla vehicles can scoot across the country, paying nothing for fuel.
And, family in tow, Musk plans to do just that next month.
The Tesla business plan is both simple and ambitious.
First, establish the brand with a highly regarded luxury vehicle. Create a buzz. Widen product selection. Boost production. Then produce a smaller sedan priced at about $35,000, within reach of the upper middle class.
Analysts expect Tesla to produce about 35,000 vehicles this year. While an increase from 2013, it’s still a tiny number, equal to only half the Ford F-series pickups produced each month.
Tesla’s gull-wing luxury crossover is expected by the end of the year, while the much-touted Generation Three family car isn’t due until 2017. Musk speaks of eventual production of 500,000 cars per year.
This story originally appeared on MarketWatch.com.