Document and Entity Information - shares	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2018	Jul. 27, 2018
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Jun. 30, 2018
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2018
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q2
Trading Symbol	TSLA
Entity Registrant Name	Tesla, Inc.
Entity Central Index Key	0001318605
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		170,593,144