Do we like Tesla?
Electric cars, batteries and energy storage; US-based, reincorporated in Texas
Our score: 4 out of 10. Real clean-energy products, but safety rulings, workplace racism claims and a CEO-friendly board make us cautious about backing them.
Tesla is the electric-car maker run by Elon Musk, with Robyn Denholm as board chair. It also sells grid batteries. It has moved its incorporation to Texas, and it has needed shareholder votes to hand Musk huge pay awards.
The pay saga is wild. A Delaware judge rescinded Musk's 2018 award, ruling the board was conflicted and shareholders were misled. The Delaware Supreme Court later sided with him. In November 2025 shareholders approved a package worth up to $1 trillion, with over 75% in favour. Proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis had urged a no.
Safety is the big worry. A Miami federal jury found Tesla 33% liable for a 2019 Autopilot crash that killed one person, and a judge upheld the roughly $243m verdict in 2026. Tesla has said it plans to appeal. NHTSA has also opened a probe into Full Self-Driving in nearly 2.9 million vehicles.
Then there's the Fremont factory. Tesla settled with three workers in a 2017 racism case, but hundreds of others and California's civil rights agency are still suing. Tesla has denied the allegations. We'd give it a 4 out of 10: good products, but too much unresolved on safety and treatment of workers.