Design Thinking at Tesla

Mator Design
2 min readAug 11, 2023

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Tesla car

๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด to innovate and develop compelling electric vehicles.

When the Tesla Roadster model was released in 2008, its sales were a complete disaster. However, when the first Tesla Model S was released in 2012, it was a game changer. Subsequent innovations propelled the companyโ€™s market cap from USD6.78B in 2012 to USD792 billion in 2023.

๐—•๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด?

Teslaโ€™s design thinking approach involves understanding customer needs, imagining new solutions, leveraging materials science, rapid prototyping, and iterating on designs until they are perfect. This approach allowed Tesla to create electric vehicles that are both desirable and technologically advanced.

๐—ž๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ-๐—ฎ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜†๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎโ€™๐˜€ ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต:

๐—–๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ-๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†: Tesla focuses on understanding what customers want in an electric vehicle and then designing slick vehicles that meet those needs. Tesla integrated artificial intelligence to its vehicles to improve driving experiences from autopilot, cruise control, through autosteering to over-the-air updates.

๐—ฅ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ธ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: The company didnโ€™t just adopt what other car companies were doing. Instead, it was willing to test new designs and power storage technologies. Tesla has made significant improvements to the rechargeable lithium battery technology, making them more energy-dense, longer-lasting, and cheaper to produce compared to General Motorsโ€™ EV1 batteries.

๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ณ? When Elon Musk started Tesla, he questioned the assumption that electric cars had to be expensive. He discovered that the only reason electric cars were expensive was because they were made with expensive batteries. He then set out to develop a new battery that was more affordable.

๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: The company didnโ€™t give up on research and experimenting new designs even when it faced challenges. Instead, it kept iterating on its designs until they were perfect. In 2018 Teslaโ€™s Model-3 was named the worldโ€™s best-selling plug-in electric car for the year.

๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: Tesla uses sustainable materials and focuses on reducing the weight of the car to lower the cost. They also made the car more efficient by using a single-motor design. This resulted in a car that is both affordable and environmentally friendly.

Teslaโ€™s success is a testament to the power of design thinking and Elon Muskโ€™s first principle thinking to problem-solving.

What do you think about Teslaโ€™s approach to innovation?

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Mator Design
Mator Design

Written by Mator Design

Social impact company that empowers teenagers with STEM and 21st century skills in Africa.