With his vision for a sustainable energy supply and cost savings, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tried to inspire investors skeptical after the Twitter takeover at the Investor Day. "There is a clear path to a fully sustainable Earth with abundance," Musk said Wednesday in Austin.
The next generation of batteries will no longer contain rare earths, and the "hard work" of electrification will be done by iron-based cells in the future. The costs of vehicle electronics are to be reduced with the switch to 48-volt systems. Overall, assembly costs are to be reduced by 50 percent with the next generation.
No new vehicles presented
Despite the planned savings, Musk did not reveal concrete plans for new, lower-cost vehicle models, as expected. Tesla also did not present any new financial targets for the current fiscal year.
At the presentation at the company's Texas headquarters, the entire company's management took a seat next to Musk on the podium – an indication that Tesla is trying to establish the strength of its leadership beyond Musk as the face of the company. Tesla's chief financial officer, Zach Kirkhorn, said the company would need to invest six times more than before to meet its long-term goal: to increase production to 20 million vehicles per year. This would correspond to a tenfold increase in current capacity. The cost could be around $175 billion, he said.
Tesla executive Tom Zhu, who as the new global head of production is responsible for sales, delivery and service, as well as all giga factories, said global capacity is currently at two million vehicles per year. The ambitious goal of the e-car pioneer: In the future, a Tesla will roll off the assembly line every 45 seconds. In addition to the giga factories in the USA, Germany and China, further production facilities are needed for this. Musk confirmed the construction of a new plant in Mexico.
The goal is 20 million Teslas per year
Entering the mass market is crucial for Tesla to increase deliveries by 2030 times to 15 million vehicles by 20. According to Musk, Tesla only needs ten models to achieve annual sales of 20 million vehicles. This would correspond to an average sales of two million vehicles per year for each model series. By comparison, the Japanese company Toyota, the world's largest car manufacturer by unit numbers, sells just over a million Corollas per year worldwide.
Tesla currently manufactures four models, all of which are at the upper end of the market. The Cybertruck, whose launch has already been postponed several times, is scheduled to be launched on the market this year.
Prominent Tesla investor Ross Gerber tweeted that the presentation was a "huge hint" with the fence post for the next generation of vehicles. "You have laid everything out. 50 percent less construction costs. That would allow for an EV in the $25-$30,000 price range!"
However, investors were unimpressed in the absence of new models: Tesla shares fell by more than five percent in after-hours trading.