Missed Tesla's Q2 Earnings Call? Read Our Bullet-Point Summary of Everything Announced

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Did you miss Tesla’s Earnings Call, or just want to see a summarized version? We’ve got you covered. Below is an outline of everything talked about during Tesla’s earnings call and Q&A session.

EV Market and Giga Factories

• Strong EV adoption, despite short-term challenges.

  • Positive long-term outlook

• Future vision for an all-electric future, including boats and planes.

• Possible vehicle tariffs for Mexico means that Giga Mexico is on hold.

• Giga Berlin could serve as a new export point as tariffs are placed on Chinese-built vehicles in Europe.

Production

• Affordable Tesla model expected to be revealed in the first half of 2025.

• Expansion of vehicle lineup, including new trims and paint options in 2024 has helped sales

• Cybertruck production has tripled so far – 1,400 per week, and ramping continues.

  • Expected to be profitable by the end of 2024.

• Model 3 and CT are still being impacted by tariffs as they scale up.

• 4680 cell production improvements

  • 51% more 4680 cells in Q2 over Q1, with a COGS reduction.

  • 1,400 CTs per week on 4680.

  • Tesla is reaching cost-parity with other cells by the end of 2024.

  • First Validation Cybertruck on dry-cathode process has been built and is being tested.

  • Production launch for dry-cathode process in Q4, should drive costs down by up to 50%.

• Tesla Semi factory on track for large-scale production by the end of 2025.

• Giga Berlin has begun producing and delivering RHD vehicles, including to the UK.

• Roadster engineering is complete and expected to see production sometime in 2025.

• Tesla’s guideline for production is 300mi on a single charge.

  • Tesla expects to expand its Supercharging network globally to meet this goal.

  • This seems to be the data-driven distance that Tesla has found most suitable for general driving uses.

FSD, Autonomy, AI

• Tesla continues to work towards unsupervised FSD. Aiming to see unsupervised FSD by the end of 2024, if not the end of 2025.

  • Elon has admitted he’s been overly optimistic in the past.

  • This new estimate is based on current trends in miles per intervention growth.

• Robotaxi event to take place on 10/10/2024.

  • Elon wanted to improve Robotaxi a bit more, and also show off “some other things”

• Tesla is looking to seek FSD approval with V12.5 or V12.6 in Europe, China, and other countries, hopefully by the end of the year.

• Tesla is in talks with multiple OEMs for FSD licensing.

  • OEMs will need 360* camera coverage, a gateway, and Tesla’s AI computers at minimum.

  • Tesla is looking for OEMs to produce over 1m vehicles per year.

  • Disclosure of an agreement will happen in conjunction with the signing OEM.

• Optimus is working in Tesla’s factories in a limited capacity.

  • Limited initial production to begin at Giga Texas in early 2025.

  • Tesla expects to use V1 to iron out bugs internally.

  • V2 is expected through 2026 and will be sold to outside customers.

• Tesla will continue working on DOJO, as acquiring Nvidia GPUs is becoming more and more difficult.

  • Tesla aims to be competitive with Nvidia in the AI GPU space in the future.

• Tesla aims to launch distributed compute alongside its AI5 hardware (formerly HW5).

  • AI5 is expected to launch in late 2025 and be in mass production by early 2026.

  • Distributed compute could use about 100 hours of idle time per week to generate income.

• Grok in Tesla could be a thing of the future, Tesla has learned a lot from xAI.

  • A proposed shareholder vote on investing in xAI could happen soon.

Tesla’s Financial Performance in Q2 2024

• Record quarter for regulatory credits.

• High interest rates globally have impacted sales and revenue per unit.

  • Tesla has offset rates in the US through competitive financing rates and expects to continue this into Q3 2024.

• Service and Merchandise profits have improved incrementally this quarter.

• Energy Storage deployments doubled between Q1 to Q2, leading to record revenue and profits.

• Tesla has a positive cash flow of $1.3 billion after restructuring this year.

  • Restructuring cost approximately $622m

  • Total free cash float of $30B.

• Capital expenditures of approximately $10B this year but beginning to come down.

  • This includes the money already spent on the new AI supercomputer cluster.

Energy Storage and Deployment

• Tesla’s Megapack factory production continues to ramp up, new Shanghai Megafactory is well in progress.

  • After the completion, current production is expected to double or triple.

  • Tesla is currently constrained by production.

• Powerwall 3 is now available in multiple countries, and demand is exceptionally high.

• There is a long pipeline between purchase and delivery for Megapack, Tesla has good pricing leverage and is working with global energy providers.

• Chinese OEMs are competitive, but Tesla offers a full software stack, including Auto Bidder with its Megapacks.

• New Megapack demand lines:

  • Buffer for power plants – Megapack can buffer power plants so they can run at a steady state, improving power production and efficiency by 2-3x.

  • AI and Data Center backup – AI compute is power-hungry, and data centers are now looking to Megapack to provide battery backup.

Watch Earnings Call

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Giga Small Haus - A Demo Home Powered by Solar and Powerwall 3

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Tesla recently showed off Giga Small Haus, an interesting new display project hosted at Giga Berlin. The small new house is located just outside the main entrance of Tesla’s Giga Berlin factory, with a Quicksilver Model Y parked inside.

Giga Small Haus is powered only by solar and Powerwall 3 - disconnected from the local grid and from Giga Berlin itself. It serves as a live demonstration of Tesla Solar and Tesla’s Powerwall battery backup.

Giga Small Haus

The centerpiece of the display is a Model Y in Quicksilver - a beautiful pick for a beautifully lit house. However, that’s not the real focus here - it's the Powerwall and Gateway on the wall.

The Powerwall is the focus of Giga Small Haus, and there’s a display with some additional information on the wall. Part of the display also includes a screen that displays the current output of the Powerwall itself versus the consumption of Giga Small Haus, as well as the input from solar.

The interior exhibit of Giga Small Haus

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The text on the exhibit is divided into several sections. Here’s a translated and edited version of what we can see from Tesla’s images. Some additional text is obscured. If someone visits Giga Small Haus, let us know.

Powerwall

Powerwall is a home battery system that stores energy from solar panels, the electrical grid, or during off-peak hours and powers your home during the day or during a power outage. 

With Powerwall, you can use self-generated solar energy during the day and night, thus avoiding high electricity costs. You can also store excess energy produced during sunny periods for use during times of low production or power outages.

Key Features

Energy Storage: Powerwall stores excess energy from solar panels or the grid for later use or during power outages.

Backup Power: In the event of a power outage, Powerwall automatically switches to battery power to ensure continuous power supply.

Integration: Powerwall can be seamlessly integrated with existing solar systems and other power sources.

Scalability: Multiple Powerwalls can be installed to meet higher energy storage needs.

Smart Energy Management: Powerwall works with Tesla's software to optimize energy consumption and reduce costs.

How Powerwall Works

Storage: During the day, when solar panels produce more energy than needed, the excess is stored in Powerwall.

Usage: At night or during times of low solar production, the stored energy is used to power the home, reducing reliance on the grid.

Backup: During a power outage, Powerwall automatically provides power to critical circuits, ensuring continuous operation of essential appliances.

Benefits

Cost Savings: By storing and using solar energy, you can reduce your electricity bills.

Reliability: Provides backup power during outages, ensuring your home remains powered.

Sustainability: Promotes the use of renewable energy by storing excess solar production for later use.

Overall, Giga Small Haus is an interesting real-life demo of what Powerwall and Solar can accomplish. It would be neat if Tesla built more of these displays - perhaps near major Delivery and Service Centers and at Giga Texas, Fremont, Giga Shanghai, and other facilities. Many Tesla owners have yet to learn about and experience some of Tesla’s Energy products.

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Tesla Adds Acceleration Boost Option for 2024 Model 3

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Tesla has added the Acceleration Boost option to the Tesla store for owners of the 2024 Model 3 Long Range - specifically owners in Australia and China. Acceleration Boost is an upgrade that provides a significant performance boost, drastically narrowing the performance gap between the Long Range and Performance versions of the same model.

This upgrade will likely become available in Europe, Canada, and the United States in the next few days as Tesla updates its shops globally.

Acceleration Boost

This new Acceleration Boost is retailing for $3,000 AUD, or approximately $2,000 USD. That’s the same price for current owners of older Model 3 or Model Y Long Range vehicles, which all have the option to purchase Acceleration Boost through the shop.

The boost provides improved 0-100km/h (0-60mph) performance, bumping the 2024 Model 3 LR from 4.4s to 3.8s. The 2024 Performance version comes in at a blazing fast 2.9 seconds, so while it isn’t equivalent to just buying a performance variant in the first place, it is still a noticeable and significant upgrade.

Performance variants also come with a different front fascia vent for cooling, performance drive units, sport seats, adaptive suspension, 20-inch wheels, and Track Mode V3. That’s a significant number of additional features in the $10,000 USD price difference between the Long Range and Performance versions.

Should You Buy It?

If you’ve purchased a Long Range model and are itching to go just that little bit faster at every red light, this is the upgrade for you. It previously came with the cost of slightly reducing vehicle range, but the Tesla store doesn’t make a note of reduced range this time around. The 2023 Model 3 and Model Y Long Range models had an efficiency loss of about 5% due to the additional always-available acceleration and cooling. 

You could drive in Chill mode to mostly negate that efficiency loss, but what’s the fun in driving in Chill when you just got Acceleration Boost? Anyhow, the shop listing for the 2024 variant doesn’t include this detail, so it's possible Tesla may have worked some more engineering magic.

Overall, if you’ve got the $3,000 AUD burning a hole in your pocket, some Tesla referral credits sitting around, or just want to go faster, it's definitely an upgrade many users find valuable.

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