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Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, poses with a Tesla car in Times Square following the electric automaker’s initial public offering in 2010. Tesla Motors is now valued at 47 percent of GM after just 10 years of business.

Discussions of Tesla Motors sometimes seem couched in the terms of a religious tale: Tesla as David vs General Motors in the Goliath role.

One company is the plucky Silicon Valley electric-car startup that's never built a vehicle with a gasoline engine. 

Image: Mark Lennihan/AP Photo/File