Release Date: July 23, 2024
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Positive Points
- Tesla Inc (TSLA, Financial) achieved record quarterly revenues and record profits for its energy business.
- Energy storage deployments reached an all-time high in Q2.
- The company is on track to deliver a more affordable model in the first half of next year.
- Significant progress has been made with full self-driving (FSD) technology, with version 12.5 beginning rollout.
- Tesla Inc (TSLA) is nearing completion of the south expansion of Giga Texas, which will house its largest training cluster to date.
Negative Points
- Increased competition from other electric vehicle manufacturers has led to substantial discounting, making it more difficult for Tesla Inc (TSLA).
- Automotive margins remained flat sequentially due to the impact of reducing financing options to offset high interest rates.
- The company is experiencing varying amounts of tariffs on both raw materials and finished goods, impacting costs in the near term.
- The ramp-up of Cybertruck and Model 3 production is still ongoing, which may affect costs.
- Tesla Inc (TSLA) postponed the robotaxi product unveil by a couple of months to make important changes.
Q & A Highlights
Q: What is the status on the Roadster?
A: With respect to Roadster, we've completed most of the engineering. And I think there's still some upgrades we want to make to it, but we expect to be in production with Roadster next year. It will be something special. - Elon Musk, CEO
Q: When do you expect the first robotaxi ride?
A: It's difficult to predict exactly, but based on current trends, we should achieve unsupervised full self-driving possibly by the end of this year. Next year seems highly probable. - Elon Musk, CEO
Q: What is the current status of 4680 battery cell production?
A: 4680 production ramped strongly in Q2, delivering 51% more cells than in Q1, while reducing COGS significantly. We currently produce more than 1,400 Cybertrucks of 4680 cells a weekend. We're on track for production launch with dry cathode in Q4. - Unidentified Company Representative
Q: Any update on Dojo?
A: We are doubling down on Dojo to ensure we have the training capability we need. We see a path to being competitive with NVIDIA, and we will make Dojo work. - Elon Musk, CEO
Q: What type of accessories will be offered with Optimus?
A: Optimus is designed to be a generalized humanoid robot with a lot of intelligence, compatible with any accessories that a human would use. - Elon Musk, CEO
Q: Do you feel you're treating people out of the joys of owning a Tesla by non-advertisement?
A: We have some advertising and awareness programs. Over two-thirds of our Q2 US deliveries were to people who had never owned a Tesla before. We plan to keep adjusting our strategy. - Vaibhav Taneja, CFO
Q: What is the updated timeline for Giga Mexico?
A: We are currently pausing on Giga Mexico due to potential tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico. We need to see where things stand politically. - Elon Musk, CEO
Q: Is Tesla still in talks with an OEM to license FSD?
A: Yes, a few major OEMs have expressed interest in licensing Tesla full self-driving. We can't comment on the details of those discussions. - Elon Musk, CEO
Q: Any updates on investing in xAI and integrating Compute into Tesla software?
A: We are learning quite a bit from xAI, which has been helpful in advancing full self-driving and building up the new Tesla data center. Any investment in xAI would need shareholder approval. - Elon Musk, CEO
Q: How do you make allocation decisions among your various ventures, and how do you make Tesla owners comfortable that you're doing it in a way that benefits them?
A: Tesla had no place to turn on GPUs, so it was in Tesla's interest to allocate them to xAI temporarily. We are now moving GPUs to the new data center in Texas. - Elon Musk, CEO
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
