Tesla: Aiming for 50% deliveries increase and production of 1.5 million units in 2022
New plants start operations in Germany and U.S.; Cybertruck to be launched in 2023
2022/05/31
- Summary
- New plants start operations in Berlin, Germany and Texas, U.S.
- China: 2021 production and deliveries exceeding those in the U.S.
- Batteries: In-house production of self-developed 4680 cells, directly securing battery raw materials
- Tesla launching the Cybertruck pickup truck, Semi heavy-duty truck and Roadster in 2023
- Tesla to remove radar from FSD system, shifting to camera-based Tesla Vision
- 2021 revenues increase by 71% to USD 53.8 billion, operating income grows 3.3 times to USD 6.5 billion
- Perspective: Optimisation and internalisation of proprietary technologies such as batteries, ADAS, etc.
- Sales Forecast by LMC Automotive: Tesla’ s sales to achieve 1.8 million units in 2025
Summary
Tesla started production of the Model Y at its new plants in Berlin, Germany in March and Texas, the U.S. in April 2022. Both plants have an annual production capacity of 500,000 units when fully operational. Tesla is planning to raise production volume at these plants as quickly as possible. The company has been increasing the annual production capacities at its existing plants in California, the U.S. and Shanghai, China to 1.05 million units in total. By the end of 2022, Tesla’s annual production capacity is expected to reach 2 million units. Tesla aims for global production volume of 1.5 million units in 2022 (Tesla’s outlook in April 2022).
In China, Tesla’s production and deliveries have been increasing rapidly. Chinese production and deliveries in 2021 are 486,000 and 484,000 units, respectively, surpassing those in the U.S. Production at the Gigafactory Shanghai is expanding steadily, and in addition to the Model 3, deliveries of the Model Y started in January 2021. While operations at the Shanghai plant continued to be strong for the first quarter of 2022, the plant ceased production from the end of March to April due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The plant stopped most of its production again from mid-May because of the parts supply problems, and Tesla is concerned that production and deliveries will be affected in the future.
The in-house production project for self-developed 4680 battery cells continues to progress at the Kato Road battery plant in California, the U.S. Tesla is expanding the use of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which exclude expensive nickel and cobalt, for the standard range versions. The company also extended the battery supply agreement with CATL. In addition, Tesla secures lithium directly from the lithium producer and supplies it to battery manufacturers to reduce the rising cost of raw materials for batteries.
Regarding new model launch plans, Tesla began deliveries of the updated Model S in April 2021 and the updated Model X in October of the same year. The company will not release any new models in 2022 to put priority on the expansion of production. In 2023, Tesla plans to release the Cybertruck pickup truck followed by the Roadster sports car and the Semi heavy-duty truck. The compact car, which will be priced at around USD 25,000, is not being developed as of January 2022.
In May 2021, Tesla started phasing out radar from the Full Self Driving system and shifting to Tesla Vision, its camera-based system. The Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X built for the North American market utilize Tesla Vision. In August 2021, Tesla hosted the “AI Day” with the theme of Artificial Intelligence (AI). At this event, the company presented the progress of Full Self Driving technology and its supercomputer “Dojo” developed for neural net training.
Tesla’s revenues for 2021 increased by 70.7% year-over-year (y/y) to USD 53.823 billion and income from operations grew by 227.1% y/y to USD 6.523 billion. Both the figures reached new record highs. Tesla’s global production for 2021 rose by 82.5% y/y to 930,422 units, while its global deliveries grew by 87.4% y/y to 936,172 units. Although many other automakers reduced or ceased production due to semiconductor supply shortages, Tesla has curbed the impact on production by having in-house engineers rewrite code to replace the missing semiconductors with alternatives or reduce the number of semiconductors. Its profitability has been raised by producing a small number of models with common components efficiently. According to Tesla’s outlook in April 2022, its global deliveries for the full year is expected to increase by 50% y/y and global production is projected to be 1.5 million units.
 |
 |
| Gigafactory Berlin Quality Control (Source: Tesla) | Gigafactory Texas - Model Y Body Shop (Source: Tesla) |
Related reports:
E-Axle (Electric Powertrain) Comparison by Teardown Analysis (Jan. 2022)
Tesla AI Day 2021: FSD Autopilot Progressing Under the Hood (Oct. 2021)
EV battery technologies on thermal management, materials, and solid state batteries (Aug. 2021)
Tesla Technology Trends (Aug. 2021)
Tesla: Aiming for annual production and sales of 1 million vehicles in 2022 (May. 2021)
Tesla Model Y teardown reports:
Tesla Model Y Teardown: HMI (Structure and GUI Concept) (Oct. 2021)
Tesla Model Y Teardown: Drive Computer (Jul. 2021)
Tesla Model Y Teardown: Autopilot 3.0, Steering and Braking Systems (Jun. 2021)
Tesla Model Y Teardown: Suspension (Jun. 2021)
Tesla Model Y Teardown: Body Frame and Strength Members (Jun. 2021)
Tesla Model Y Teardown: Electric Powertrain Technology (Jun. 2021)
Free membership registration allows you to read the rest of the article for a limited time.