4 ms·

Musk specifically covered this in the earnings call. They are production constrained and had to hold back deliveries in the US to ensure that people who made re

by marvin 13y ago

Musk specifically covered this in the earnings call. They are production constrained and had to hold back deliveries in the US to ensure that people who made reservations in Europe two years ago would get their car.

makomk 13y ago
According to the summary I've seen[1] he said they were constrained by the available supply of batteries. Now, Musk spun this as a temporary setback, but one of the most widely-reported potential issues they have is that the number of batteries they need is huge. As in, if they expand much they'd require the entire current global production of 18650 cells[2] - and that's just to produce 40,000 cars a year! [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/11/05/live-tesla-beats-expectations-on-record-sales-investors-decide-to-sell-anyway/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/11/05/live-tes... [2] http://jalopnik.com/tesla-could-use-up-all-the-worlds-laptop-batteries-1247047341 http://jalopnik.com/tesla-could-use-up-all-the-worlds-laptop...
- codex 13y ago
  This is one reason Nissan makes their own batteries in their own plants.
codex 13y ago
Something doesn't add up then: if Tesla can produce 7150 cars per quarter, why is next quarter guidance only for 5K cars sold? Another new market with long lead times?
- marvin 13y ago
  Tesla can't produce 7150 cars per quarter as of today, the production capacity as of Q3 end was probably on the order of 6200 cars/quarter. The reason guidance is lower than this, is that the company is expanding to many foreign markets and hence many cars are in transit. This was also covered on the earnings call. Tesla is currently shipping to Europe and will if I remember correctly start shipping to China during Q4. Remember, shipping cars takes time since they need to go on freight ships.

4 ms·

Musk specifically covered this in the earnings call. They are production constrained and had to hold back deliveries in the US to ensure that people who made re

by marvin 13y ago

makomk 13y ago
According to the summary I've seen[1] he said they were constrained by the available supply of batteries. Now, Musk spun this as a temporary setback, but one of the most widely-reported potential issues they have is that the number of batteries they need is huge. As in, if they expand much they'd require the entire current global production of 18650 cells[2] - and that's just to produce 40,000 cars a year! [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/11/05/live-tesla-beats-expectations-on-record-sales-investors-decide-to-sell-anyway/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/11/05/live-tes... [2] http://jalopnik.com/tesla-could-use-up-all-the-worlds-laptop-batteries-1247047341 http://jalopnik.com/tesla-could-use-up-all-the-worlds-laptop...
- codex 13y ago
  This is one reason Nissan makes their own batteries in their own plants.
codex 13y ago
Something doesn't add up then: if Tesla can produce 7150 cars per quarter, why is next quarter guidance only for 5K cars sold? Another new market with long lead times?
- marvin 13y ago
  Tesla can't produce 7150 cars per quarter as of today, the production capacity as of Q3 end was probably on the order of 6200 cars/quarter. The reason guidance is lower than this, is that the company is expanding to many foreign markets and hence many cars are in transit. This was also covered on the earnings call. Tesla is currently shipping to Europe and will if I remember correctly start shipping to China during Q4. Remember, shipping cars takes time since they need to go on freight ships.