Tesla Model 3 production

Tesla Model 3 Could Be #10 Best Selling Car In USA This Month

7 years ago Zachary Shahan 0 Comments

Amidst admission that this year has delivered a “hellish” several months for Elon Musk and Tesla factory workers, the star Tesla CEO and co-founder also dropped a figure that it seems half the world has been waiting to hear. It’s a figure that will perhaps seem too old to rely on in just one week, and epically out of date in a month or two, but it’s the kind of figure that could shift a few billion or so here or there in the investment and trading community.

How Many Tesla Model 3’s Were Delivered In May?

7 years ago Zachary Shahan 0 Comments

It’s time to estimate US Tesla sales again. Since Tesla likes to make it hard on us, the company has started shipping Model 3’s to Canada. That means that aside from the normal factors of uncertainty regarding production and delivery, we also now have uncertainty about where those deliveries occurred. Our friend (and occasional CleanTechnica contributor) Matthew Klippenstein publishes Canadian electric car sales reports over on Green Car Reports, but we’re yet to see Tesla’s April numbers, so it will be quite a while before we get May stats.

NYTimes Coverage Of Elon Musk Twitter Outburst Regurgitates What Pissed Him Off In The First…

7 years ago Zachary Shahan 0 Comments

I just published a long piece on why I think Tesla CEO Elon Musk was so wrong in his reactionary, broad-brushed response to certain media coverage. But as a great reminder of what has been raising his blood pressure for months or years, the NYTimes coverage regurgitated the narratives that have pushed Elon over the edge — without putting them in proper context. Ugh. Do you have to do such a poor job responding to his criticisms when we need to convince Sir Elon to keep away from generic media bashing?

Tesla Airlifts Robots To Save Money, Jumping Last Hurdle To 6,000 Model 3’s A Week…

7 years ago Maarten Vinkhuyzen 0 Comments

Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter last night that 6 planeloads of equipment that Tesla just flew from Germany to California are indeed robots from Grohmann. Don’t envision Westworld-like robots occupying all the seats in a jumbo jet, enjoying the latest movie. These are automated assembly systems for the Gigafactory to solve the last problems with battery module assembly. For over half a year, it is known that the biggest hurdle to ramping the Model 3 production is unexpected limitations of the battery assembly line.

Stop The Presses! Tesla Stopped Producing The Model 3!!

7 years ago Maarten Vinkhuyzen 0 Comments

Did you fall for this clickbait headline? You are not alone. Even the serious Dutch press thought it worthy to write about a car factory in California which performs normal scheduled upgrades/improvements on their production line while it is in development. When the local village paper in Fremont, California, mentions it because of the extra visitors to the shopping mall, that is understandable. But what crazy world do we live in that this is worldwide news? This has happened a number of times, by the way.

Tesla Model 3 Gross Margins

7 years ago Guest Contributor 0 Comments

In the ongoing tug-of-war between Tesla bulls and bears, one of the most controversial subjects these days is the gross margin that Model 3 can generate at a 5,000 cars per week production rate as well as the rate when production lines have fully matured. Bears had previously focused on whether Tesla could successfully ramp up Model 3 production quickly enough so as to hit the 5,000 per week production number before Tesla’s cash position becomes compromised, but with the company now consistently turning out thousands of Model 3s per week and evidence of additional gains, the emphasis has shifted to the profitability of those cars produced, and this is where the concept of gross margin becomes key.