Ian Wright Net Worth [The Poorest Tesla Co-Founder]

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Net Worth:	$7 million
Profession/Career:	Engineer, Entrepreneur
Place of Birth:	New Zealand
Height:	5 ft 10 in
Best Known For:	Being one of the four original co-founders of Tesla as well as being founder & CEO of Wrightspeed

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Net Worth of Ian Wright of Tesla

Ian Wright’s net worth is estimated to be roughly $7 million in 2022.

Despite having left Tesla early, Ian Wright still got rich from Tesla due to being one of the original co-founders, along with J.B. Straubel, Martin Eberhard, and Marc Tarpenning. Tesla was founded in 2003 and Ian Wright had left the company by 2004 to start Wrightspeed, his own company that produces hybrid powertrains for trucks and vehicles that are heavy on fuel consumption. However, he was still part-owner of the company since he helped start it up. He has gone on record to state that he sold all of his Tesla shares in 2010 upon IPO. We don’t know exactly how many shares he had, but we do know that J.B. Straubel owned around 367,000 shares, so if we assume Ian Wright held the same amount and sold it at $17 which is what the company was pricing the shares at during IPO, that would have bumped Ian Wright’s net worth to roughly $6.2 million overnight.

Since then, he’s been working diligently on Wrightspeed and has successfully secured orders from FedEx for his hybrid powertrains. The claim is that in under four years, FedEx will have recouped its investment in the powertrains and would save roughly $55,000 per year on fuel and maintenance costs for the life of the powertrain. In the US alone, Ian Wright has calculated that the market for his particular powertrains could potentially be worth over $5 billion per year.

How much does Ian Wright earn in a year?

Ian Wright is estimated to earn roughly $600K a year.

We don’t know exactly how much Ian Wright makes from Wrightspeed, but as founder and CEO, it’s a good chance that he makes at least $250K in salary.

On top of that, he has roughly $7 million available for investments. It’s true that he could have used some of his own money to help start up Wrightspeed, but it’s highly unlikely since he left Tesla in 2004 to found Wrightspeed and didn’t get rich from his Tesla shares until 2010. Most likely, he funded Wrightspeed by getting outside investors on board.

If we assume that his $7 million grows at a rate of 5% per year (a conservative rate) via a mixture of stocks, bonds, and other various investment products, that would yield him approximately $350K per year or more as his investment continues to grow.

$250K from salary plus $350K from investment earnings totals to $600K in earned income per year.

Did Ian Wright grow up rich or poor?

We don’t know whether Ian Wright grew up rich or poor. All we know is that he was born and raised in New Zealand, which has a cost of living between $36K to $48K per person per year in a major city. On average, the cost of living in New Zealand is about 2% lower than the US.

Ian Wright’s involvement in Wrightspeed

Ian Wright founded Wrightspeed in 2005 as a company focused on developing electric vehicle (EV) powertrain technology.

Wrightspeed initially aimed to retrofit existing commercial vehicles with advanced electric drivetrain systems to improve their efficiency and reduce emissions. The company’s primary focus was on creating electric powertrains for medium and heavy-duty trucks.

Under Ian Wright’s leadership, Wrightspeed gained attention for its innovative powertrain solutions, which combined battery-electric technology with a range-extending gas turbine generator. This hybrid approach provided extended range capabilities for commercial vehicles while reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

While Wrightspeed gained recognition for its technological advancements, it faced challenges in scaling its operations and achieving widespread commercial success. In 2016, the company shifted its focus to powertrain solutions for electric buses and ceased retrofitting commercial trucks.