(NASDAQ: TSLA) is a movie star of a stock these days, but that wasn't the case in the mid-2010s. Electric vehicles (EVs) were still a niche market, in a world still dominated by a handful of incumbent automakers churning out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by the thousands.

What a difference a near-decade makes. Tesla these days is not only the pace-setter of the EV industry, but it's also one of the most recognized industrial companies on the stock market, period. Here's a drive-by on how, and why, it became so mighty, and a take on whether it's still a good stock to invest in.

While Tesla as a company and a stock has had its fits and starts, for the most part, it's been a racecar. A $10,000 investment in the EV maker's shares placed in late July of 2015 would have, after two stock splits, grown to a monster pile of almost $2.25 million eight years later. How's that for share price acceleration?

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Source Fool.com