Car stuff (public number: chedongxi)
Author | Juice
Edited by | Xiaohan
Net profit soared 658% year-on-year, and Tesla once again showed its ability to make money.
Just this morning, Tesla officially announced the first quarter of 2022 financial report and held a conference call, Musk also introduced and analyzed the topics of production capacity, FSD, Robotaxi, humanoid robots, and battery raw material price increases.
In the just-concluded first quarter, Tesla made a good start, delivering 310048 new vehicles, up 68% year-on-year, even compared to 308,600 units in the fourth quarter of last year, a slight increase of 0.46%.
In terms of revenue, Tesla's total revenue in the first quarter of 2022 was US$18.756 billion (about 120.399 billion yuan), an increase of 81% from US$10.389 billion (about 66.689 billion yuan) in the same period last year, while GAAP's net profit reached 3.318 billion US dollars (about 21.299 billion yuan), a sharp increase of 658% compared with LAST year's US$438 million (about 2.812 billion yuan).
In the first quarter, Tesla completed a number of major events, including the smooth production of the Berlin factory and the Texas factory, and so far Tesla has four gigafactories in the world.
In March, Tesla also began releasing the FSD Beta version for the first time to some users in Canada, and Tesla's goal this year is to release the FSD Beta version to all U.S. customers by the end of the year.
▲ Tesla FSD
In addition, Tesla also upgraded the in-vehicle software in the first quarter, users can customize the body color in the vehicle's UI, and added content such as Disney+ streaming services.
In the subsequent earnings call, Musk reiterated the goal of selling 20 million vehicles a year in the future, believing that the Berlin plant, the Texas plant, and the Shanghai plant will all achieve good production this year, and it is expected to achieve 1.5 million units by the end of the year.
Musk also revealed a new product, Robotaxi, which will hold a product launch next year, and is expected to be mass-produced in 2024, and the cost of use for future users may be lower than that of buses and subways.
On the issue of rising prices of battery raw materials, Musk said that the mining and refining of lithium is still limited, and Tesla will make up for this problem by recycling power batteries.
Overall, Tesla achieved a good start in the first quarter of this year, with new sales, revenue, and profits, and two new gigafactories. From this beginning, Tesla is very likely to achieve new sales targets this year and take a new step again.
First, sales rose again to a new quarterly high
The only one who can break Tesla's sales record is Tesla, and in the first quarter of this year, Tesla once again refreshed its sales record.
In the first quarter of this year, Tesla produced a total of 305407 new cars, of which the Model 3/Y produced about 291189 units, an increase of 61% year-on-year, and the Model S/X also produced 14218 units.
In terms of deliveries, Tesla delivered a total of 310048 vehicles, an increase of 68% year-on-year, once again refreshing the quarterly sales record. Among them, the Model 3/Y delivered about 295324 units, an increase of 62% year-on-year. Approximately 14,724 Model S/X units were delivered, with sales up 625% year-on-year.
▲Tesla's first quarter production and sales data
Through the comparison of production and sales data, it is not difficult to find that Tesla's delivery volume exceeds production, which also shows that Tesla has sold almost all the models produced.
At present, Tesla is still facing the shortage of parts and the price increase of some core raw materials, which also caused Tesla to raise prices several times in March, but did not affect the final sales.
Tesla said in its earnings report that expanding production capacity is the focus of current work, and in the first quarter of this year, Tesla's Texas factory and Berlin factory have begun production and delivery of model Y.
▲Tesla's berlin plant is the first batch of delivered models
Second, net profit reached 3.318 billion US dollars, a year-on-year surge of 658%
Along with sales volumes, revenue and net profit rose.
According to the financial report data, in the first quarter of 2022, Tesla's total revenue was 18.756 billion US dollars (about 120.399 billion yuan), an increase of 81% from 10.389 billion US dollars (about 66.689 billion yuan) in the same period last year.
Among them, the total revenue of the automobile business was US$16.861 billion (about 108.234 billion yuan), an increase of 81% compared with US$9.002 billion (about RMB57.786 billion) last year, an increase of very obvious.
▲Tesla's first quarter financial report key financial data
In terms of net profit, in the first quarter of this year, Tesla's GAAP net profit reached 3.318 billion US dollars (about 21.299 billion yuan), compared with 438 million US dollars (about 2.812 billion yuan) last year, an increase of 658%.
Tesla's gross profit for the quarter reached $5.46 billion (about 35.049 billion yuan), an increase of 147% year-on-year, and GAAP gross margin was 29.1%. Among them, the gross profit margin of the car reached 32.9%, almost reaching one-third, taking the Model 3/Y currently mainly on sale as an example, the gross profit of almost every car is around 100,000 yuan.
In addition, in terms of cash flow, Tesla's cash and cash equivalents in the first quarter were $17.505 billion (about 112.368 billion yuan), an increase of 2% year-on-year, and the change from $17.576 billion (about 112.824 billion yuan) in the fourth quarter of last year was not a big change.
Free cash flow was US$2.228 billion (about 14.302 billion yuan), up 660% from US$293 million (about RMB1.881 billion) in the same period last year, but down 19.7% from US$2.775 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.
Combined revenue, profit and vehicle production and sales, Tesla set a new record in the first quarter of this year.
Third, two factories put into production 4680 batteries have been put on the car
In the first quarter of this year, Tesla was still affected by supply chain issues, resulting in the factory not operating at full capacity. However, in the first quarter of this year, Tesla also achieved several achievements.
In April, Tesla officially delivered the Model Y produced at the Austin, Texas plant, which was officially equipped with technologies such as 4680 batteries, one-piece die-cast front body and CTC, becoming the most advanced Model Y in Tesla's current production process and batteries.
▲Inside the Texas factory
According to Tesla's plan, later this year, the Texas factory will produce both 4680 battery packs and 2170 battery packs, but the 2170 battery packs will not use CTC technology.
In March this year, Tesla's Berlin factory was officially delivered, and the first vehicles still used conventional 2170 batteries and did not use CTC technology, but Tesla promised that in the future, the factory will also produce 4680 batteries and CTC technology.
▲Inside the Berlin factory
In terms of FSD, Tesla has already released the FSD Beta for the first time to Canadian users in March. Tesla said that before the end of this year, it will open the FSD Beta to all U.S. customers.
In terms of in-vehicle software, Tesla has updated a number of functions, such as the ability to freely change the vehicle's UI color, add a Disney+ streaming service, improve the accuracy of charging estimation time, and allow the child lock to be opened separately on the back door.
In addition, in the first quarter of this year, Tesla strengthened the use of lithium iron phosphate batteries, nearly half of the new cars produced are equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries, thanks to Tesla's energy-saving motors, the Model 3 equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries can still achieve 267 miles (about 429 kilometers) of EPA life.
For future planning, Tesla still hopes that this year's new car deliveries can achieve 50% growth.
Fourth, the future use of 800V architecture Robotaxi cost is lower
After the earnings release, Tesla also held a earnings call, in which Musk further answered multiple questions.
Musk first explained the capacity situation, saying that the initial growth of the Texas and Berlin plants is well thought out, and the two factories will achieve rapid growth after that, and the initial slope will always look small, but it will eventually show exponential growth.
Although there is a problem of supply chain localization, Musk still believes that it will be very simple to achieve production increases in the Berlin factory, first of all, because Tesla has learned a lot of things in the Shanghai factory, and secondly, the innovation of production technology will also make the production workshop easier. Musk believes the two plants will achieve higher production next year.
▲The new plant uses a number of one-piece die casting parts
Musk also expressed his praise for the Shanghai factory, which has been affected by the epidemic but is still operating. Musk believes that the Shanghai factory may also "make a comeback" in the future, adding new production lines.
Musk estimates that the plant's capacity will increase significantly by the third and fourth quarters of this year, and it is expected to achieve 1.5 million units this year. Musk reiterated his goal of achieving 20 million vehicles a year, saying that Tesla has completed 5% of this target today.
Speaking about the Robotaxi, Musk said it was a dedicated model without a steering wheel or pedals that would be designed for the Robotaxi service and would be optimized for FSD, with the product's event taking place next year and expected to start production in 2024.
With Robotaxi, Tesla can minimize the cost of commuting per mile, and Musk gave an example in the earnings conference that the cost of taking Robotaxi in the future will be lower than bus or subway tickets.
Musk also once again made a guarantee for the production of Cyberruck at the meeting, saying that the car will be produced in 2023.
▲Cybertruck
On the issue of FSD, Musk said that in order to achieve FSD, Tesla must solve real-world AI problems, which is a very challenging task, but it is still possible to achieve, Tesla's Dojo and other projects are prepared to achieve this task.
When it comes to humanoid robots, Musk said the business may be more valuable than the automotive business, and the importance of the project will be revealed in the coming years.
▲ Tesla robot
Musk also commented on the 800V architecture currently used by many companies in the industry, arguing that higher voltages are not necessarily better, and the cost may be higher compared to the advantages. Tesla may use an 800V architecture in the future, but it will require mass production to be cost-effective, and Cybertruck and Semi are likely to use the 800V architecture.
When it comes to the current price increase of power battery raw materials, Musk believes that to achieve a certain output, Tesla needs to study the macro status of raw materials more carefully, but at present, mining lithium and refining lithium are still limiting factors.
Tesla is currently replenishing battery materials through battery recycling, and can recycle about 50 tons of battery materials per week. This data will become more impressive over time, and Tesla is also recycling large amounts of aluminum from traditional cars and wheels.
In addition, Musk also talked about the situation of the 4680 battery, he said that by the third quarter of this year, the 4680 battery will be mass production.
Conclusion: Tesla is ushering in rapid development
At present, there are many players in the new energy vehicle market, traditional car companies have made efforts in electrification, and powerful players like Volkswagen have achieved good sales in many markets, which is also a big challenge for Tesla.
Therefore, whether it can be profitable is not the main problem of Tesla's thinking, and how to further seize market share in the future has become a new issue for Tesla. In the coming period, Tesla will take increasing production as its first goal.
At the same time, Tesla is also conducting research on Cyberruck, Semi, humanoid robots, Robotaxi and other projects to prepare for subsequent development.
If you want to break through in the long-term competition, you can't slack off every moment, Tesla is obviously very aware of this truth, and in the next few years, it will be in rapid development.