One minute understanding of Tesla's shareholder meeting: ModelY will become the world's best-selling model, with Cybertruck delivery in the second half of the year

On May 17th, at 4am Beijing time, Tesla's 2023 shareholders' meeting was held at a super factory in Texas, USA. Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated at the meeting that although the profitability of electric vehicle companies is very difficult, Tesla is very successful in terms of profitability

On May 17th, at 4am Beijing time, Tesla's 2023 shareholders' meeting was held at a super factory in Texas, USA. Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated at the meeting that although the profitability of electric vehicle companies is very difficult, Tesla is very successful in terms of profitability. 2022 is an exciting year, as Tesla will lead the global economy onto a path of sustainable development.

In the second half of this year, Tesla is about to deliver Cybertruck electric pickup trucks, with an expected annual production of over 250000 vehicles. In addition, Musk also revealed that Tesla will launch two new products in the future, with designs and manufacturing far exceeding any current product or technology. It is expected that the total annual sales of these two new products will exceed 5 million vehicles.

Tesla's 2022 full year financial report shows that its revenue for the year was $81.462 billion, a year-on-year increase of 51%; The gross profit was 20.853 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 53%; The gross profit margin is 25.6%, higher than the 25.3% in 2021. Previously, data showed that in the first quarter of 2023, Tesla delivered 422875 electric vehicles globally, setting a new historical high.

As Musk said at the shareholders' meeting, Tesla is currently the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer and the world's most profitable automaker, despite the difficult profitability of electric vehicle companies, But Tesla has been very successful in terms of profitability - "Many of our competitors have suffered huge losses in producing electric vehicles, but we have not. We are actually manufacturing electric vehicles with better product strength and economic benefits

Currently, the ModelY has topped the list of best-selling models in Europe in the first quarter and is also the best-selling non pickup truck in the United States in the first quarter.

Looking at the Chinese market, the ModelY is also the best-selling passenger car in multiple months. According to the latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers in April, Tesla's Shanghai Super Factory delivered 75842 vehicles, surpassing Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Audi, firmly holding the championship in domestic luxury brand delivery. Meanwhile, ModelY ranks first in the delivery volume of the entire vehicle market with a market performance of 49059 vehicles; The Model 3 delivered 26783 vehicles, ranking among the top ten overall vehicle deliveries.

Musk expressed satisfaction with the current achievements of the Tesla team. He believes that the difficulties of the manufacturing industry are difficult to describe in words - not only in making prototypes, but also in achieving production. It is even more difficult to achieve positive cash flow through large-scale manufacturing, but Tesla's team has achieved it.

"As you can see, the company's Free cash flow is growing steadily every year," Musk said.

Cybertruck will be delivered in the second half of the year, and humanoid robots will be one of Tesla's long-term value sources

Musk announced that Tesla is about to deliver Cybertruck electric pickup trucks in the second half of this year, with an expected annual production of over 250000 vehicles.

It is reported that Cyberrack is a difficult to manufacture electric vehicle. Because it is a completely new design, traditional manufacturing methods cannot be simply used. To achieve this, Tesla must create a completely new manufacturing process in order to produce an "electric vehicle with an exoskeleton".

Regarding shareholders' questions about whether they plan to manufacture RVs in the future, Musk stated that Tesla currently does not have any plans, but encourages car owners to convert electric trucks into RVs - the Cybertruck body has added many connection points, which can facilitate car owners to modify it.

In addition to the Cyberrack to be delivered in the second half of the year, Tesla will also have two new products available in the future, with designs and manufacturing far exceeding any current product or technology. It is predicted that the total annual sales of these two new products will exceed 5 million vehicles.

Musk also specifically mentioned Tesla's ongoing humanoid robot business, which shares the same origin as cars, at the meeting, and broadcasted the latest research and development results video on site. The maturity of related technologies is astonishing. It is reported that the motors, controllers, electronic components, and all components visible on the humanoid robot are independently designed by Tesla.

In addition, Tesla plans to further enhance the FSD (Fully Autonomous Driving Ability) test version and apply it to humanoid robots. In Musk's view, FSD is definitely much safer than human drivers, and such safety can be achieved. For many people, the intuitive feeling brought by this improvement is that Tesla has transitioned from manual intervention in autonomous driving to fully autonomous driving, which is a significant transformation and a historic appreciation of electric vehicle assets.

In Musk's view, the demand for humanoid robots will be very high in the future, and humanoid robots will be Tesla's main source of long-term value in the future. If the ratio of humanoid robots to humans is around 2:1, then people's demand for robots may be 10 billion or even 20 billion, far exceeding the number of electric vehicles, "Musk pointed out.

When it comes to long-term value, Musk also mentioned that the current global economy is relatively severe, and bank interest rates have a significant impact on the affordability of electric vehicles, as the vast majority of people purchase cars on a monthly basis. Raising loan interest rates will cause difficulties for businesses. However, he believes that the global economy will definitely improve in the coming year, which will also bring more opportunities to Tesla.

Tesla is doing very well now, and one year from now, Tesla will definitely be in an excellent position. We hope everyone can become long-term investors in Tesla, "Musk said. In the future, with the continuous growth of electric vehicle sales and the promotion of humanoid robot business, Tesla's profitability will have greater room for improvement.

High density battery, lithium refinery bankruptcy and Megapack energy storage products

At the shareholders' meeting, Musk shared with on-site and online shareholders that Tesla has explored higher energy density and lower cost solutions for its self-developed 4680 battery cells.

The efficiency and performance of batteries are crucial for electric vehicles. Musk mentioned that Tesla's transition from having nothing to producing batteries that are better than any battery cell on Earth is clearly not an easy task, even compared to companies that specialize in manufacturing battery cells.

Although this is a very difficult road, Tesla has indeed found a path to very high energy density and lower costs, "Musk said.

It is reported that the 4680 battery is a new generation cylindrical battery launched by Tesla with a diameter of 46mm and a height of 80mm, making it the best choice for balancing high energy density and high power density. Currently, it is continuously optimizing and improving performance and efficiency to enhance power and range.

Musk mentioned that Tesla's focus on solar and wind energy has unique characteristics, and various forms of transportation and fixed storage require lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, the production speed of lithium-ion batteries fundamentally determines the speed of the world's transition to sustainable development. Lithium refining is an important issue when looking to the future to address bottlenecks in the supply chain.

Tesla's new lithium refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas has broken ground. This refinery will have a very large lithium refining capacity, which will bring more lithium to Tesla in the future.

In fact, making energy storage more convenient and efficient has always been Tesla's goal. Musk had predicted that Tesla's fixed battery pack business would grow faster than the electric vehicle industry, which has indeed become a fact. From Tesla's index curve, it can be seen that the battery business growth rate is even faster than the sales of electric vehicles.

Musk mentioned that fixed energy storage is a major factor in addressing sustainable energy issues. Megapack is Tesla's third-generation fixed energy storage product, and its batteries are now more competitive than natural gas power plants. Therefore, there is a strong demand for Tesla's Megapack battery pack production, which will be produced in large quantities. Currently, Tesla is expanding its Nevada super factory, which will not only be used for Tesla's pure electric semi trailer truck Semi production line and internal 4680 battery production, but also become an important factory for producing Megapack. In addition, on April 9th of this year, Tesla announced a partnership with Shanghai to build a new Shanghai energy storage super factory, expected to be put into operation in 2024. This is also Tesla's first overseas energy storage super factory project.

At this shareholders' meeting, Musk mentioned that Tesla's current planned production capacity in California, USA and Shanghai, China is both 40Gwh/year. In the long run, the actual production capacity will be much larger than this goal, and in the future, fixed battery pack energy storage will achieve an annual capacity of over 500Gwh, with almost unlimited demand.

As for the future, Musk also gave a clear plan at the shareholders' meeting. Tesla will continue to invest in battery, electric vehicle production (including the next generation platform), lithium refinery construction, energy storage plant, sales and service footprints, charging network and other fields. Obviously, Tesla also needs long-term investors.