Tesla produced and delivered more than 200,000 electric cars in the second quarter of 2021, it said on Friday (US time) – a record for the company and more than double its efforts compared to the same period last year.
Of these, almost 99% were Model 3 and Model Y cars. Only 2,340 Model S and X were made and even fewer – 1,890 – shipped, with premium customers undoubtedly waiting for the Plaid Tri-Motor Model S and Model X to be launched in early June.
Tesla CEO and Co-Founder Elon Musk congratulated the Tesla team on Twitter, saying: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on over 200,000 cars built and delivered in the second quarter, despite many challenges !!”
Congratulations to the Tesla team on over 200,000 cars built and delivered in the second quarter, despite many challenges !!
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 2, 2021
The first half of 2021 was challenging for many sectors as a global semiconductor shortage led companies to overorder, compared by Musk to a Covid-related working paper rush in June.
Our biggest challenge is the supply chain, especially microcontroller chips. Never seen anything like it.
The fear of running out makes every company overorder – like the toilet paper shortage, but on an epic scale.
That said, it’s obviously not a long-term problem.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2021
While the numbers for the second quarter fell short of some analyst expectations, they broke Tesla’s previous record of 185,000 cars delivered in the first quarter of 2021.
Source: Tesla
Tesla narrowly missed its target of 500,000 in the 2020 calendar year, but in the first six months of 2021 it has already achieved almost 80% of that figure.
In the first quarter, Tesla ceased production of its Model S and Model X lines in preparation for a design update. It is also in the process of completing the construction of two more factories, one in Texas, USA and one in Berlin, Germany.
The Texas plant will focus on producing the as-yet-unreleased Cybertruck, while the Berlin plant will focus on making Model Y for the European manufacturing cost.
It goes without saying that both sites will also produce 4,680 battery cells, with Musk saying the Berlin site would become “the world’s largest battery factory”.
After releasing Tesla’s 2020 production numbers in January, Musk said, “The factory is the product,” underscoring the impact both factories, and specifically the stamping process and the new 4680 battery lines, would have on the production and cost of electric vehicles
Bridie Schmidt is a senior reporter for The Driven, the sister company of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018 and is very interested in the role that emission-free transport must play for sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organizer of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model 3 and can rent it at evee.com.au.