“There needs to be like an enormous roaring sound, which is the sound of cash on hearth,” he added.
Each factories opened earlier this yr to a lot fanfare. On the launch of the Gigafactory in Austin in April — the place Tesla produces its Mannequin Y and plans to provide the Cybertruck, a futuristic electrical pickup truck whose design Musk mentioned had simply been finalized — Musk heralded “a brand new section of Tesla’s future.”
However these factories are producing a “puny” variety of automobiles as a consequence of shortages of batteries and world supply-chain bottlenecks, with essential elements caught in ports in China, Musk mentioned. “It has required all of our consideration simply to maintain the factories going” within the face of “extreme” disruptions, he instructed the Tesla followers in Austin.
“This manufacturing unit is shedding insane cash proper now,” Musk mentioned from Texas’s capital, shaking his head as he seemed by glass home windows on the manufacturing unit ground. “We needs to be outputting much more vehicles from this manufacturing unit, versus a really puny quantity of vehicles.”
Musk cited a number of challenges. He mentioned the instruments required to fabricate vehicles utilizing 2170 battery cells have been “caught in port in China, with nobody to truly transfer it,” whereas the Tesla manufacturing unit in Shanghai was topic to periodic shutdowns as a consequence of native covid-19 restrictions. And he mentioned Tesla was discovering it difficult to provide extra structural battery packs and related 4680 batteries.
Musk mentioned these points would “get fastened actual quick, but it surely requires a number of consideration.” He mentioned the Tesla manufacturing unit in Berlin, which opened in March, confronted related obstacles however famous that it’s “in a barely higher place” as a result of it’s targeted on the 2170 battery cells.
Tesla was additionally affected by a world scarcity of semiconductor chips final yr and China’s coronavirus-induced shutdown, Musk mentioned. “I’m unsure everybody is aware of simply how critical the covid shutdowns have been in China — and it’s not executed but,” he mentioned. He had beforehand mentioned the hovering value of battery minerals was additionally a difficulty.
Musk instructed Tesla workers in June, after the interview was taped, that 10 p.c of the corporate’s salaried workforce can be laid off as he expressed considerations a few attainable future recession in the US. He mentioned Tuesday on the Qatar Financial Discussion board that the corporate grew its salaried workforce “slightly too quick,” however that Tesla wanted extra hourly staff and doubtless would have extra workers general by subsequent yr.
Ex-Tesla workers sued the corporate over the layoffs, claiming it didn’t give them correct advance discover. Musk on Tuesday referred to as it “a small lawsuit of minor consequence.”
