The lengthy awaited Investor Day, the very first in Tesla’s historical past, got here and went. The practically 4-hour lengthy occasion left lots of people chilly and disillusioned as a result of regardless of the teasers of the most important announcement in Tesla’s historical past, the corporate saved the small print of its future EV portfolio secret. There was no shock unveiling, nor very detailed plans.
When you didn’t watch the reside stream as a result of it was in the course of the night time for you, otherwise you merely don’t have 4 hours to spare watching Elon Musk elaborating on his plans – don’t fear. We put all of the info collectively for you in a pleasant and straightforward to digest roundup, so you may make up your individual thoughts about it.
To begin with Tesla, and Elon Musk, clearly are usually not proud of the way in which we produce electrical energy on Earth. In response to the presentation over 80% of electrical energy comes from fossil fuels. Elon believes we will change that with none drastic sacrifices and he believes Earth can assist a a lot larger inhabitants than 8 billion individuals.
Elon’s argument is that we solely want 30 TW of renewable energy mixed with 240 TW of battery storage to run the world. The world is presently utilizing about 60 TW of energy, however he believes the reason being big inefficiencies of combustion expertise – principally by means of warmth. He goes on to elucidate that we “only” want to take a position $10 trillion to alter our vitality manufacturing to a totally sustainable mannequin.
That could be a good argument, strolling away from combustion expertise will cut back extra than simply emissions. Making our electrical energy manufacturing and consumption extra environment friendly is an final aim. $10 trillion funding seems like a ton of cash but it surely solely represents 10% of world GDP from 2022. The presentation makes it sound simple and potential however Elon forgot to say international politics, geopolitical points and our lack of ability as people to look far forward in time to comprehend potential advantages.
Tesla has a plan in place to eliminate fossil fuels and it offered a pleasant and easy graphic to elucidate the way it intends to do it. Renewable vitality can lower fossil gasoline use by 35%, electrical vehicles can lower 21% and warmth pumps can cut back our reliance on fossil fuels by 22%. Apparently, Elon Musk says hydrogen might help lower one other 17% and he even imagines boats and airplanes powered by renewable sources or sustainable fuels to chop one other 5% of fossil gasoline use. That is 100% fossil gasoline use changed with different vitality sources. Good and easy.
Leaping again to electrical vehicles, Tesla sees the longer term international fleet as absolutely electrical and principally autonomous. The corporate put up one other slide the place it exhibits the numbers of vehicles that we have to change with EVs to realize our targets of zero emissions and sustainability. We are going to want 115 TWh of car batteries and 4TW of electrical energy from photo voltaic and wind to energy all these EVs and we’ll want $7 trillion of producing funding.
Tesla is positioning itself as an professional on warmth pumps, the corporate sees them as an answer to our vitality issues. It’s shocking to see the corporate partaking itself thus far out of the automotive area and happening to a world saving mission. It’s good on one hand to see Tesla taking partial accountability for emissions but it surely sounds quite a bit like a distraction from the corporate’s major targets. Perhaps Tesla has a degree and it’s time for automotive firms to take extra accountability for the surroundings?
Shifting on to the transition to sustainable vitality. Tesla believes there are greater than sufficient sources on this planet to afford a complete transition to battery energy and renewable vitality manufacturing. Elon factors out that the total transition would use lower than 30% of world nickel sources and reminds us that Earth has extra iron than we will ever use.
With the Earth saving plan offered, the main focus shifted to Cybertruck and manufacturing points. The choice to make it out of chrome steel is proving to be the primary concern however the firm claims it has all of the kinks labored out and the Cybertruck continues to be on monitor to start out manufacturing this yr. Mass manufacturing will solely start in 20224 although.
Tesla is engaged on decreasing the manufacturing complexity and it’s altering the way in which the meeting course of is carried out presently. The corporate hopes to slash its manufacturing prices by half as soon as the brand new fashions are launched a while sooner or later. Right here’s the comparability of the present and future meeting processes:
Subsequent up had been the brand new and improved powertrains. Tesla claims its subsequent era powertrains will use zero uncommon earth supplies, 75% much less carbide and can be capable of use any battery chemistry. They’ll require far much less house to fabricate – practically half as a lot – and can save a minimum of $1,000 in prices per unit. Financial savings per unit are nice and all, however with the ability to make them in half as a lot house is probably going an even bigger deal.
Subsequent up was software program and FSD took the middle stage. Tesla pushed out yet one more software program replace to scale back pressure in seatbelts – apparently it is going to cut back the variety of accidents. We’ve missed that one – was Tesla hurting individuals whereas typing to guard them? Apparently so.
Surprisingly, the FSD presentation was painfully quick and it solely talked concerning the fixed work and progress that’s being made and immense sources which are required for all the info processing. Apparently Tesla labored out that FSD vehicles journey on common 3.2 million miles earlier than a collision happens – all of it relies upon the way you current the info.
Subsequent there have been robots. Elon just isn’t giving up on his dream of giving us bi-pedal droids and doing it as quickly as potential. The corporate has a imaginative and prescient of robots making different robots (the place have we seen this one earlier than?) and it desires them to outnumber individuals. Nothing to fret about right here, then.
Lastly we’ve got some extra particulars concerning the Magic Dock on the newest Supercharger stalls. It truly could be very intelligent because it mechanically acknowledges whether or not it’s a Tesla or non-Tesla automobile that wants a cost and the shopper pulls the charging cable with the proper plug – easy and efficient. The 4th era Superchargers with longer cables are first t be deployed in Europe.
Elon Musk desires to convey the 50s again and apparently Tesla is planning its personal charging parks from the drive-ins period. Los Angeles would be the first location to see a Tesla drive-in with a rock themed restaurant and indoor curler skate park. That really sounds cool.
After speaking concerning the variety of pallets the Semi moved final yr and variations between automobiles with warmth pumps and those with out, the presentation moved on to future plans. Tesla made 4 million vehicles in complete because it entered the enterprise. It took the corporate 12 years to realize the primary million and solely seven months to make the final million of vehicles.
The subsequent bit could also be a nugget that has gone amiss within the barrage of slide. Tesla is increasing its vitality storage enterprise exponentially and at unprecedented velocity. Its Megapack storage resolution is promoting like sizzling muffins and the corporate already has an even bigger resolution within the pipeline and it reckons this one will retire fossil fuels. Now, that may be a huge assertion.
Simply earlier than Q&A session Tesla talked concerning the affordability of its automobiles. In response to the corporate, the 5-year price of possession of Tesla Mannequin 3 is already decrease than that of proudly owning a Toyota Corolla however the subsequent era Tesla automobiles will convey that even decrease.
The Q&A session kicked off with affirmation that Tesla goes to construct the Gigafactory in Mexico and that’s the place it is going to construct the following era EVs. Elon Musk mentioned that the Investor Day is meant to speak concerning the far future and never the following quarter manufacturing targets, which triggered much more confusion since that’s precisely what the buyers want.
Much more confusion ensued when Musk mentioned that Tesla just isn’t concerned with moving into battery materials refining, solely to go on to elucidate that the refining capability is the most important choking level for the time being and that’s why the corporate is constructing its personal refinery in Corpus Christi.
Questions on subsequent era automobiles and potential timeline for his or her manufacturing went unanswered. The corporate desires to supply as many as 10 completely different automobile fashions and goals at 20 million models per yr as soon as it has all of the factories constructed.
Elon Musk dismissed the concept of electrical vehicles performing as house vitality storage just by saying that after the automotive is unplugged, the lights exit. Clearly he’d say that, Tesla is promoting Powerwall for a motive and Tesla vehicles won’t ever function V2L due to that.
In response to Tom Zhu, Tesla feels secure in China regardless of rising political unease. The corporate believes it gives a whole lot of jobs within the space and sells sufficient merchandise to be essential and to not be affected by any fallout. Let’s hope he’s proper.
After which Elon Musk went on to explain the demand for Tesla’s electrical vehicles as infinite. He did. If that wasn’t sufficient, he went on to repeat that with the Megapack, which he claims the demand for is “quasi infinite.” He topped the Investor Day with an recommendation for everybody to “chill out about AI” and he carried on saying that “it’s quite dangerous technology and I fear I have done something to accelerate it.”
This was Investor Day in a nutshell. To sum it up – we nonetheless don’t know when Tesla will introduce subsequent era EVs but it surely’ll maintain a devoted product launch when that occurs. The Mexico Gigafactory will get a inexperienced mild, Elon desires extra robots however he’s frightened the AI will kill us all. On the brilliant aspect, he has a plan to wean us off fossil fuels. The plan includes a whole lot of Megapacks and $10 trillion funding. Tesla vehicles are shifting away from uncommon earth metals and FSD is nowhere close to prepared.
Tesla shares are presently buying and selling over 5% decrease than yesterday (after hours) and there’s a risk of a sell-off occurring over the following few days. The build-up earlier than the Investor Day reached a fever pitch and now buyers are feeling a bit hungover however it is going to go. Please share your feedback with us, tell us what you assume – disappointment or not? Is Tesla’s plan to save lots of the world a good suggestion or ought to it deal with making vehicles?
