Elon Musk Promises 100,000 Electric Cars Per Year

Dave Knott sends this news from the CBC: Tesla stock was up five per cent on Friday morning after CEO Elon Musk said the electric-car company would deliver 100,000 vehicles next year. Its earnings report released Thursday shows Tesla continues to operate at a loss as it spends on engineering and setting up an assembly line for its Model X SUV, which is scheduled to go into production early next year. But investors were cheered by the news that the company would deliver 100,000 vehicles next year, up from 22,000 in 2013 and a projected 35,000 this year. Tesla reported a loss of $61.9 million in its second quarter, compared with a loss of $30.5 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue nearly doubled to $769.3 million, missing Wall Street's forecast of $801.9 million, but expenses were also up as Tesla prepares some ambitious projects, spending $93 million in the quarter on research and development alone. While the Model X is in development, the longer-term plan is for a cheaper, mass-market car, the Model 3, to be launched in 2017. The biggest investment Tesla will make is in its large lithium-ion production plant, to be built at an as-yet-unnamed U.S. location in a $5-billion partnership with Panasonic.

Headline is wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

He said that by the end of 2015 they would be producing cars at a rate > 100,000 cars/yr (2000 cars/wk). They will enter 2015 producing cars at slightly more than 50,000 cars/yr (1000 cars/wk). The actual number of cars (Model S & Model X) made in 2015 will be between 50,000 and 100,000. Elon went on to say it would be greater than 60,000. Elon speaks very precisely. It is not confusing.

Re:so...

[Ralph Wiggam]

but the vast majority of electricity is produced from coal.

You think that 39% is a "vast majority"? The US is rapidly moving from coal to natural gas because the price of natural gas is falling as domestic production increases. All in all, an electric car creates slightly less pollution than a Prius.

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3

Re:so...

[Nemyst]

So what you're saying is that the backwards states pollute a lot. Gee, whodathunkit. Sadly, your crude assessment clearly designed to make electric cars look bad is rather... laughable. You include transmission losses for electricity, but not distribution pollution/losses for gas? Nor refining? You assume that ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of your electricity comes from coal? You assume that efficiency between electricity and gas is in any way comparable? I could go on, but I doubt you care about that.

Go ahead and enjoy your Hummer.

Re:Invisible Hand of the Market

[tomhath]

You think building an automobile manufacturing plant, engineering a new line of cars, and building a distribution network should be cheap and easy? Musk seems to be pulling it off, so yea, it's a free market. Albeit a more expensive one to get into than opening a hot dog stand.

Re:We losing money on every sale

[haruchai]

Those subsidies apply to all BEVs, not just Tesla, which is a startup. You can get the same discount on a Leaf which is 1/2 - 1/3 the price of a Model S and is made by one of the biggest automakers in the world.
And the "dirty coal" argument is a load of horseshit. Come out from behind your cloak of cowardly anonymity & we'll debate.