Tesla wants to halve the price of electric cars – and makes more promises

Tesla boss Elon Musk often uses the company’s investor day as a stage for major product announcements. This year he promised a golden future for electromobility. However, the investors did not hear any concrete implementation plans.

Here you can find everything you need to know.

What about the cheaper electric cars?

Musk in particular has promised significantly cheaper electric cars. At the annual Investor Day in Austin, Texas, the CEO and other Tesla executives announced that it was possible to cut costs for future vehicle generations in half as part of a “Master Plan 3”.

However, concrete implementation plans were not presented. Observers had previously expected Tesla to announce a smaller and more affordable electric car, but Musk failed to do so.

The market reacted disappointed to the vague announcements. Tesla shares fell more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. However, Tesla stock had recovered weeks earlier from the 2022 declines and was up more than 60 percent since the start of the year.

What else has Tesla announced?

In the webcast, Musk and other Tesla executives spoke at length about the global use of renewable energy. They announced that Tesla would play an active role in “reviving the power grid with renewable fuels” beyond electromobility. In addition to offering electric vehicles, the group is also active as a provider of energy storage systems for private households, particularly in the US.

The company reported deliveries of about 1.3 million vehicles for 2022. Tesla has set a goal of producing about 20 million electric vehicles per year by 2030, the company’s management confirmed. Tesla’s chief financial officer, Zach Kirkhorn, estimated that the company would need to invest six times more than it currently does to reach that long-term goal. The cost could be as high as $175 billion, he said.

How many electric cars can Tesla produce?

With the prospect of increasing capacity, the question arises whether Tesla should not significantly expand its model range for this. The automaker has so far only offered models that are at the top end of the market.

The Tesla Cybertruck pickup model was announced in 2019, but has not yet been mass-produced. The Tesla executives promised that the Cybertruck would hit the market in larger numbers this year.

According to Tom Zhu, who is responsible for global production in the group, Tesla has produced a total of four million cars to date. “It took us 12 years to build the first million and about 18 months to build the second million. For the third million, it was 11 months. It then took us less than 7 months to reach the fourth million,” Zhu said, citing the company’s improved operational efficiency.

Tesla currently has a production capacity of nearly two million vehicles per year. However, compared to classic automobile groups, this is relatively little. Volkswagen produced almost eleven million vehicles in its best year and has more than 100 factories.

(dsc/sda/awp/dpa)