a former journalist and Tesla employee has written a book exploration the revolutionary car company.  

Hamish McKenzie's book is called, Insane Mode: How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil, and follows the companies electric car journey.

McKenzie told Mike Hosking he reached out to Elon Musk for his book and instead was offered a job.

"I was working as a tech reporter...had written a couple of things about Elon Musk and an editor in the UK got in touch and said, "hey, would you be interested in writing a book about Elon?". I said, "yeah, I would be let's see if he [Musk] would cooperate".

"I got in touch with him and he said, "I'm not sure about the book but I like your book and would you be interested in a job at Tesla?" And after awhile of going back and forward I decided yeah, it would be an interesting opportunity."

He said working at Tesla met all his expectations.

"It would be a bit of a wild ride, lots of ups and downs, hard work but lots of thrills and that is pretty much what it turned out to be."  

"It is an incredible exciting company with a lot of downsides."

While Tesla has had a good financial year, ending the quarter in the black for the second time in the company's history, Elon Musk has been in a world of trouble this year for things ranging from smoking cannabis in an interview, to tweeting he was taking his company private, when he wasn't and being removed as chairman. 

McKenzie said the environment at the company is "not all that happy".

"There are definitely high points but the corporate culture, as has been reported quite a lot, is not all that positive".

He said it is "pretty unconventional for Silicone Valley standards" in that staff don't get numerous free lunches and parties and it is mostly a "cost saving exercise".