The boss of the American car manufacturer presented his strategy to investors. He settled for a target of 20 million vehicles produced per year by 2030.
Boring, vague… What was to be Elon Musk’s 3rd “master plan”, his roadmap for the future of Tesla turned out to be laborious on Wednesday evening March 1st. The manufacturer’s boss himself seemed absent in Austin during this day devoted to investors. For three hours, fifteen Tesla executives followed one another on a stage set up in the Austin factory in front of a turquoise blue metallic architecture. Elon Musk, whose speech seemed hesitant, was obviously not in his best shape.
While we were waiting for festive announcements on the next models, the arrival of more affordable models, the leaders of Tesla were satisfied with two objectives. The first: the production of 20 million vehicles per year by 2030. This should require an overall investment of 150 to 175 billion dollars. As a reminder, Tesla produced 1.9 million cars in 2022 in its four factories, two of which are located in the United States. Second objective, to produce 1 TWh per year thanks to its stationary energy storage facilities. This time, the investment is expected to reach $28 billion.
A 50% cost reduction on the next vehicles
Questions about the supply of lithium needed to produce the millions of batteries that will equip electric vehicles have been swept away by Elon Musk: “Lithium is a common mineral. There is no monopoly in one country, did he declare. There is enough in the United States to supply the whole world”. The boss of Tesla recalled Tesla’s other activity in renewable energies, which he wants to promote through stationary storage units installed all over the world. Elon Musk said he was full “of hope and optimism” to put an end to fossil fuels. “It’s not wishful thinking, it’s the result of calculations based on physics.”
Several thematic sequences, rather intended for an audience of engineers, took place, presenting the progress made by Tesla in designing vehicles, producing them, reinventing the design of microprocessors, deploying its supercharger terminals around the world… And above all reducing the costs. Tesla executives have promised a further 50% cost cut on upcoming vehicles to make them more accessible.
The opening of a factory in Mexico, already announced with fanfare by members of the Mexican government, almost fell by the wayside. Elon Musk caught up with oblivion by confirming the Mexican project just before questions from analysts. Decidedly Musk had his head elsewhere. And the spectators felt cheated.