2023 Tesla Investor Day...
The investors will be able to see the most advanced production line as well as discuss long term expansion plans, generation 3 platform, capital allocation and other subjects with our leadership team. - Tesla
The first person on stage was CFO Zachary Kirkhorn, who started things off just before 4:30 p.m. Kirkhorn said the event would address three things: 1. What will it take to convert the earth to a sustainable energy future; 2. Tesla’s contribution to that; and 3. what that means for the company as a whole. Co-founder and CEO Elon Musk and Drew Baglino, senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, took the stage from Kirkhorn.
Elon Musk started the event emphasizing that he sees a clear path to a sustainable energy future. How we get there is the question. Musk believes 240 terawatt hours, or 240,000 gigawatt hours, of batteries would be enough to realize the goal. That figure includes both EV batteries for EVs and stationary energy storage. It's a lot of batteries: roughly 480 times the amount of batteries produced around the world in 2022. Battery manufacturing capacity is growing rapidly. The industry should produce about 750 gigawatt hours in 2023. Tesla’s new $3.6 billion investment in Nevada will include 100 gigawatt hours of battery capacity.
Part two of the presentation included the first reference to a “next-gen vehicle.” Investors really want to hear about a new car, a Tesla vehicle platform that will hopefully include a lower-priced EV. Von Holzhausen said Tesla would unveil the next-gen vehicle at a later date and hinted that the company could make it quickly once it’s ready. Investors and analysts expect the next vehicle to hit roads by 2025. There aren’t any specifics from the company yet. Part two also included a look at production innovations and cost. Tesla casts part of a Model Y instead of stamping and welding metal. That’s an innovation that saves money, and Moravy outlined other assembly innovations designed to lower costs further.
Tesla is trying to show off its leadership team. In the past, company events were dominated by Musk along with regular appearances from CFO Kirkhorn and senior vice president Baglino. Now, Colin Campbell, vice president of powertrain engineering, is on stage, and he followed Morvay. Neither has had prominent roles at past events. (Franz von Holzhausen was a big part of the Cybertruck reveal in 2019, where he famously broke the bulletproof window on the prototype.) Before exiting, Campbell says Tesla’s next permanent magnet electric motors won’t include any rare earth metals. Shares of MP Materials, which is ramping up rare earth production in the U.S., are down 3.2% in after-hours trading on that remark.
Pete Bannon, vice president of low voltage and silicon engineering at Tesla, and David Lau, vice president of software engineering, took the stage at around a quarter past 5 p.m. Eastern time. The message for investors here is that cars are getting smarter and are being controlled more with software. More software also means cars can get better over time with software updates. It’s an important part of the Tesla story. The company wants customers to pay $15,000 for autonomous driving software, but that software has to get better before it’s widely adopted.
Ashok Elluswamy, director of autopilot software, took the stage to talk about Tesla’s autonomous driving software called Full Self Driving, or FSD. He said FSD has been purchased by about 400,000 customers and added that users of the software are five to six times safer than the average U.S. driver.
The biggest news of the night came during the Q&A. CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla plans to build a Gigafactory in Monterrey, Mexico. That will be the EV maker's fifth car assembly plant. The new plant, combed with expansions at existing facilities, could raise manufacturing to about 3.5 million cars a year, Tesla said. Management said the Mexican plant would produce its next-generation vehicle, a lower-priced car that was hinted at earlier in the event. The company said details for that vehicle would be unveiled at a later date. A specific timeline for the plant to be up and running was not given. Other plants took more than a year from announcement date to become operational. That would put the Mexican plant on a schedule to produce the next model by the end of 2024.
Tesla plans to offer some Tesla owners at-home charging for a monthly fee. If you live in Texas, you will be able to buy unlimited at-home nighttime charging for $30 a month, the company said. Tesla has offered products like this to customers before. For example, the company offers insurance to drivers. The charging subscription highlights Tesla's ability to buy electricity at low rates, leveraging its utility storage and software products.
CEO Musk appeared on stage later in the event to update investors about Tesla's robot named Optimus, which made its first appearance in September at Artificial Intelligence Day. Musk said he believes Tesla's robot business can be bigger than its car business one day. That vision is dependent on robots doing labor that is currently done by humans. Musk said that'd be good for humanity. Labor done by robots can lead to cheaper goods and gives humans more time to do other things, he said.
Here is the complete video recap of the 2023 Investor Day
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DID YOU KNOW WE ARE GIVING AWAY A NISSAN GTR???
- In just a few short days we will be announcing our Nissan GTR Giveaway, we have gave away smaller items like iPads, Laptops, iMacs, PS5's, Apple Watches, Cash and more but we have NEVER gave away something like this!
This 2019 GTR Track edition could be yours!
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