GM Dismissed Tesla In 2009 As A 'bunch Of Engineers Playing With Laptop Batteries,' Nikola's CEO Says

• General Motors called Tesla "a bunch of engineers playing with laptop batteries" in 2009.

• Nikola CEO Steve Girsky, who sits on GM's board, recalled hearing that during a recent Q&A.

• Tesla is now one of the most valuable companies in the world with a market capitalization of $830 billion.

Less than 15 years ago, one of Tesla's biggest rivals completely despised Elon Musk's automaker, Nikola CEO Steve Girsky recalled in a recent interview.

Girsky, who took over as Nikola's CEO in August, was a member of General Motors' board of directors from 2009 to 2016. He said he raised the Tesla issue shortly after joining the auto giant. Audio by AlphaSense/Sentéo.

"I asked about Tesla and they said it's just a bunch of engineers messing with laptop batteries," Girsky said.

"It was a common idea at the time, and we know how it came about," he continued. "Tesla" is 10 years ahead of the entire industry.

Girsky shared an anecdote to highlight his belief that Nikola has such an advantage over his competitors.

"The big boys are forgetting about the zero-emission trucking industry," he said. "I know they're playing with prototypes, but they don't think the technology will be available until the end of the decade at the earliest."

Tesla, a pioneer in battery technology and electric vehicles, has lived up to the expectations of the automotive industry in recent years.

According to the company's annual report, revenue fell from about $112 million in 2009 to $81 billion last year, and a net loss narrowed from $254 million to a net profit of $12.6 billion.

The automaker's market capitalization has also grown, from about $2 billion when it went public in 2010 to about $830 billion today. It now dwarfs GM, worth $46 billion, and has even surpassed Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, which is worth $807 billion.

Auto industry executives have repeatedly expressed skepticism about Musk's electric car ventures.

"It's pure psychological or almost mass psychosis," former Ford and Chrysler CEO Bob Lutz said in February 2020 after Tesla's stock more than tripled in six months. Shares of Musk's company more than quintupled after Lutz's comments.

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