Elon Musk has raised eyebrows following a pair of tweets containing important information about Tesla.
The first tweet, published on Sunday in response to claims that current Tesla models could jump in value due to high demand and limited supply, the outspoken chief executive said that Tesla will build more than half a million vehicles in 2019.
“There are 2.5B cars & trucks on Earth. Even replacing 1% of that fleet would require making 25M vehicles per year. Tesla will make over 500k cars in next 12 months, but that’s a mere 2% of 25M or 0.02% of global vehicle fleet. Car industry slow -> demand >> supply,” he wrote.
Very much so. There are 2.5B cars & trucks on Earth. Even replacing 1% of that fleet would require making 25M vehicles per year. Tesla will make over 500k cars in next 12 months, but that’s a mere 2% of 25M or 0.02% of global vehicle fleet. Car industry slow -> demand >> supply.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2019
Musk’s tweet is similar to one which landed him in hot water with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) back in February 20, Bloomberg reports.
At the time, Musk tweeted that Tesla would “make around 500k [cars] in 2019.” He later amended his statement saying “Meant to say annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week.” The SEC asserted that Musk’s tweet was in defiance of a settlement he agreed to last year for tweets containing “material” information about Tesla to be reviewed by a board dedicated to overseeing his social media activity.
Lawyers for Musk asserted that his production-related tweet “was a shorthand gloss on topics that had already been covered in depth in company filings and an earnings call with analysts.”
Incorrect. Pana cell lines at Giga are only at ~24GWh/yr & have been a constraint on Model 3 output since July. No choice but to use other suppliers for Powerwall/Powerpack cells. Tesla won’t spend money on more capacity until existing lines get closer to 35GWh theoretical.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2019
A separate tweet published by Musk over the weekend came in response to reports that Panasonic was freezing plans to further extend battery capacity at Nevada’s Gigafactory 1 which it shares with Tesla. Musk specifically denied claims that Panasonic recently boosted battery cell production capacity at the plant to 35 gigawatt hours per year.
“Incorrect. Pana cell lines at Giga are only at ~24GWh/yr & have been a constraint on Model 3 output since July. No choice but to use other suppliers for Powerwall/Powerpack cells. Tesla won’t spend money on more capacity until existing lines get closer to 35GWh theoretical,” Musk’s tweet read.