Tesla Model X sales

Aluminum-Air Battery … Chevy Bolt & Hyundai Kona vs. Tesla Model 3 Sales … The…

The most popular CleanTechnica stories of the past week were led by a (somewhat wild) claim of an aluminum-air battery breakthrough. Yup, really. After that, it was almost all Tesla — Tesla Model 3 sales compared to other top EV sales, buying a gas “luxury car” competitor to a Tesla, Tesla disruption in Norway, Elon Musk and Tesla proving naysayers wrong, a Tesla fire, Tesla software updates.

Tesla 3rd Quarter Sales Grew 1664% In 6 Years, 271% In 2 Years

To kick off this article, I’ll make an important note: this is not about Tesla stock. Because of how much Tesla short sellers insert themselves into press discussions of Tesla [TSLA], and how long and deep the battles of logic & math are between those short sellers and Tesla shareholders (of which I am one), some people assume that every discussion of Tesla sales or production is about the stock. Perhaps many people assume that. But, no, young Jedi, not everything is about the stock. Now let’s get on to the story.

“Tesla Demand Cliff” — Mistaken Logic? Tribal $TSLAQ Kool-Aid? Paid Trolling?

One year ago, when Tesla’s 3rd quarter 2018 production and delivery data came out, many Tesla critics were stunned — absolutely stunned. They had been saying for months that Tesla absolutely could not produce the number of cars Tesla ended up producing. They also said with great conviction that Tesla absolutely could not show a profit in the 3rd quarter, or any quarter. Tesla blew the criticisms out of the water with production, deliveries, and a solid profit.

3 Nuggets About Tesla Customer Demand From 2nd Quarter Conference Call

There are a lot of things that slip into the “Tesla narrative” and common Tesla discussions. Some of those things make sense. Some don’t. Some provide insight into the future. Some don’t.

Two days ago, just before the second quarter Tesla conference call, I wrote a long and rambling piece about Tesla demand, essentially writing that no one knows what Tesla demand is or will be.

Let’s Talk About Tesla 3rd Quarter Demand

After the recent announcement of Tesla’s record breaking Q2 production and deliveries, the bears on Tesla can no longer say that Tesla can’t build or sell or deliver cars in Q2, but they can repeat the same for Q3. That’s fine with me. I’m ready to meet them. So, with everyone talking about the Q2 numbers today, I’m happy to shift the conversation to the third quarter. Let’s talk about what we know about Q3. (Full Disclosure: I’m long Tesla [TSLA] stock, but don’t expect this to be only good news.)