*Part of this article is quoted in the report: "2022 China New Energy Vehicle Industry Series Research Report - Tesla Analysis of OEMs", first published on Toubao Science and Technology Innovation Network.
Recently, Tesla's operation to cut prices has caused a shock in the new energy vehicle market, and its preferential treatment is very large, and the maximum reduction of related models is nearly 50,000 yuan.
It is reported that Tesla's sales performance in December was poor, with 41,926 units in the domestic market, a year-on-year decrease of 40.93%.
However, within 3 days after announcing the price reduction, more than 30,000 new orders were received at once.
However, there are also consumers who have just bought a car before who have called out that the price reduction is too strong and has become a "leek", which inevitably caused some rights protection storms.
The reason behind Tesla's sharp price reduction is undoubtedly a helpless move to feed back sales. Globally, Tesla delivered 1.31 million vehicles in 2022, up 40% year-on-year, but fell short of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's target of 1.5 million vehicles and was lower than market expectations.
As of January 17, 2023, Tesla's market value has fallen by about 90% compared with the beginning of 2022, becoming the technology company with the most market value in the world in 2022.
Although Musk himself "dumped" the Fed on social platforms, sales are less than expected and are likely to be the main reason for Tesla's recent stock price decline.
Musk called Tesla unprecedentedly good, and the stock price problem pointed directly at the Federal Reserve
Indeed, as Musk said, for Tesla, the company is still on the road of industry breakthrough and leadership, maintaining the position of the global new energy vehicle market leader in the hardware, technology and software layers, and it is precisely because of the support of many hard forces that it dares to make a significant price reduction strategy.
So, where is the confidence behind Tesla's sharp price cut? Can Tesla's "catfish" continue to stir the auto market on its own? In the future, what market advantages and core technologies will be presented?
Toubao hereby releases the "Tesla Chapter of OEM Analysis" of the 2022 China New Energy Vehicle Industry Series Research Report, analyzing the corporate strength of Tesla Motors, and analyzing and judging its electrification process, intelligent process and other core technologies.
01 Tesla product introduction and financial situation
Tesla model introduction
Tesla first launched the high-end pure electric sports car Roadster, the appearance of the independent innovative design, the price is 135~2 million yuan, 100 meters acceleration only 2.1 seconds, is currently not on sale. The first flagship high-end model Model X/S to enter China is a representative model of Tesla in the minds of Chinese people. The Model Y, a pure electric mid-size SUV, is Tesla's most popular model, with the advantages of long battery life, fast charging and large space. The Model 3 is the cheapest all-electric sedan, and its excellent power and handling are suitable for young consumers who drive alone for a long time.
Thanks to the successive landing of early technical investment and the launch of market-hit models, the company's operation has entered the fast lane, Tesla's revenue has maintained rapid growth, and its scale and net profit have turned into profits, and China has become the second largest sales market for Tesla after the United States.
02 Tesla's production capacity
Tesla's Gigafactory
The Gigafactory revolutionized Tesla vehicle manufacturing. Among them, Model S/X is manufactured by the California factory, Model 3 is produced by the California factory and the Shanghai Gigafactory, and Model Y has a total of 4 factories responsible for production. The Nevada plant and the New York plant in the United States produce battery packs, motors, and energy storage products Powerwall and Powerpack.
03 Tesla's sales capabilities
Tesla's direct sales model
Tesla has set up an official website to provide comprehensive and up-to-date model product information, and built a directly operated sales store and after-sales service center to enhance users' experience and respond to users' after-sales needs. Compared with the traditional automobile 4S store distribution model, Tesla's direct sales model eliminates dealers, simplifies the purchase process, reduces user purchase costs, and realizes the innovation and change of new energy vehicle sales model.
04 Electrification development path
Summary of Tesla's electrification path
Compared with mainstream new car companies, Tesla practices all-round self-research of the core technology of the three electric powers, and its power battery cells, BMS (battery management system), motors, and electronic control technologies lead the development of the industry. The ideal car layout is the earliest high-voltage pure electric platform, adhering to the range extension technology route; NIO develops cutting-edge technologies such as BMS and motor electronic control.
05 Electrification: Large cylindrical batteries
Tesla's large cylindrical battery
Different from prismatic batteries and pouch batteries, Tesla launched the industry's unique large cylindrical battery, three generations of batteries from 18650, to 21700, and then to 4680 model evolution, cells, volume, capacity, group performance and price are also increasing.
06 Electrification: Silicon carbide (SiC) power devices
Tesla uses SiC power devices
The main inverter of Tesla Model 3 adopts SiC power devices, which significantly increases the power conversion efficiency and increases the cruising range by 5~10%. Compared with silicon-based materials, SiC has the advantages of high voltage resistance, high-speed operation, and fast thermal conduction rate. Tesla models use SiC power devices to boost the position of SiC chips in the electric vehicle supply chain.
07 Intelligent: cockpit domain controller
Tesla's third-generation cockpit domain controller
The main computing chips of Tesla's first two generations of cockpit domain controllers are NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 and Intel automotive-grade processor Atom A 3950, and the flash memory uses eMMC with relatively slow reads and writes, so the vehicle system runs slowly. The third-generation cockpit domain controller adopts AMD Ryzen™ embedded processor, replacing eMMC with SSD, and the read and write performance and life of internal flash are significantly increased; Therefore, in the actual experience of the car machine, the application opens, the web page loads significantly faster, and the game runs more smoothly.