Elon Musk Sets 15 September 2020 as Battery Day, Petrolheads Mark your Calendar

Summary

• The much-anticipated Battery Day to be tentatively held on 15 September 2020 as announced by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
• The event to include the unveiling of improvements in battery production technology and a tour of the new battery cell production system at Tesla’s Fremont facility in California.
• Tesla achieves a high gross margin and a 32% increase in revenue (the highest ever) during what is being perceived as the most challenging phase for the global economy.

Palo Alto, California- based electric vehicle (EV) and clean energy company, Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk had announced on 21 June 2020 that the long-awaited “Battery Day” event and Tesla shareholder meeting have been tentatively scheduled for 15 September 2020.

What is the Battery Day buzz about?

Image by Blomst from Pixabay

Some of the most significant advancements in battery and battery production technology would be unveiled by Tesla and its partners at the Battery Day, which is why Tesla CEO insists on the event being in person rather than virtually. Mr Musk has also emphasised that the event would include a tour of Tesla’s new battery cell production system in Fremont, California but Tesla’s anticipated Plaid powertrain update may not be revealed on the day.

Amid the unsettled coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), the news comes as a surprise for the electric car makers who have been waiting for an update since over a year when Elon Musk had promised the event, but it faced several delays. Even now, the risk of bringing together so many people is high, and the event could potentially be further pushed ahead.

The new battery production technology is characterised by better cost and durability as the cost per kilowatt-hour of the storage capacity of a battery is a primary competitive factor in the electric vehicle market. In addition, the battery is also a key factor in the determination of the total cost of an electric vehicle.

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Apart from the battery technology, Elon Musk gave a slight clue in a recent twitter post that Tesla could include cross-traffic alerts for drivers who are backing up their vehicles. It is now an exclusive feature and several vehicles today include cross traffic warnings and alerts when backing a car up. For instance, the vehicles manufactured by Hyundai feature rear-facing sensors to detect oncoming vehicles, a feature unexplored by Tesla. Nevertheless, Tesla’s sustainable electric vehicles are equipped with a rear back-up camera as well as eight cameras placed strategically to assist in Autopilot and Full Self-Driving capabilities. Besides, over the years, the electric vehicle giant has introduced several revolutionary features in its overall superior vehicles pertaining to the back up camera.

Harbinger of Electric Vehicle Age, Tesla- Poised to Grow Further

Owing to its fondly admired plug-in car models, Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is soaring as traditional auto manufacturers are still catching up. The TSLA stock settled the day’s trade on 23 June 2020 at USD 1,001.78, up 0.75%, with a market cap of ~USD 185.70 billion.

Founded in 2003, Tesla embarked on a mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy alternatives. Having made consistent strides over the years, Tesla has not only built all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla is a major catalyst and expediting the world’s movement towards a zero-emission future to largely reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.

Tesla electric vehicles are developed at its production factory in Fremont, California, and Gigafactory in Shanghai, China, with a key focus on safety.

Tesla’s cutting-edge battery technology and electric powertrain were first unveiled in 2008 followed by the introduction of its maiden premium all-electric sedan, Model S, which has become the best car in its class in every category. Since then, the Company’s journey has continued and new electric car variants were released to the market such as Model X, the safest, quickest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history; Model 3, a low-priced, high-volume electric vehicle; Tesla Semi, the safest, most comfortable truck ever and others.

Solar Roof, (Source: tesla Website)

The Company has also given other unique set of energy solutions to the world like Powerwall, Powerpack and Solar Roof, which enable homeowners, businesses, and utilities to manage renewable energy generation, storage, and consumption, thus largely contributing to establish a complete sustainable energy ecosystem.

Today, Tesla vehicles are known to have the highest energy efficiency possessed by any other EVs built to date. At the same time, the Company’s ambition is to bring about more improvements in the technology and powertrain efficiency, so as to minimise costs per vehicle and the carbon footprint per mile driven.

The last few challenging months saw Tesla and other manufacturers shutting down most of their operations and the quarter ending 30 June 2020 would be crucial for the vehicle manufacturing companies to generate higher production to meet the demand.

Despite the market volatility in the March quarter 2020 (Q1 2020), Tesla achieved a positive GAAP net income in the seasonally weak period and an increase of $ 1.8 billion in its cash and cash equivalents to $ 8.1 billion. The revenue was also the highest in Q1, growing by 32% year-on-year against a challenging operating landscape.

Although, the Company did face certain inefficiencies related to the temporary suspension of production and deliverables in many locations, the automotive gross margin remained strong at 25.5% and the total margin at 20.6%.

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