Auto & Transportation

Make money while being scolded. It can be said to be the best summary of Tesla after the release of the second quarter earnings report of this year.

Tesla's second-quarter financial report data is very good. This quarter's revenue reached 11.96 billion US dollars, an increase of 98% year-on-year; adjusted net profit reached 1.616 billion US dollars, an increase of 258% year-on-year. This is the first time that Tesla's net profit exceeded 1 billion. The dollar "mark". Compared with the net profit of $438 million in the first quarter, the second quarter has more than tripled.

On the day of the release of the earnings report, Tesla's stock price rose 2.21% to 657.62 US dollars per share, and the total market value reached 633.5 billion US dollars.

Behind the net profit far exceeding expectations, this is due to three points: automobile production, delivery and cost control. The financial report shows that in the second quarter, Tesla produced a total of 206,000 electric vehicles, and the delivery volume reached 201,000, plus half of the completed annual delivery target of Q1. Among them, Tesla Model 3/Y became the most popular model, with 199,400 sold.

The difference from the previous quarter is that the backbone of the profit this time is the automobile and other new energy product businesses, not the sale of emission credits to other car companies or profit from the bitcoin market. Someone ridiculed that Tesla finally got rid of the title of "selling charcoal".

In China, the world's most populous market, after the "brake failure" incident, Tesla's sales in China were affected. In April, sales plummeted by 67%, and only 11,671 vehicles were delivered.

But after Tesla launched a loan campaign and lowered prices, its car sales rebounded in May and June. According to the latest data from the Passenger Association, the sales of Model 3 in June were 16,515 units, an increase of 10.4% year-on-year, and another model, Model Y, followed closely with sales of 11,623 units. Buying while cursing, Chinese consumers are still not firm enough towards Tesla.

With Musk's maverick, Tesla is still favored by the market amidst the controversy.

Super factory, full power

The world is currently in the predicament of a "chip shortage", and new energy vehicles will only have greater demand for chips.

Musk revealed on the earnings call that although it was slightly affected by the supply chain and factory upgrades, the Shanghai Gigafactory has taken on the heavy responsibility of production capacity, with an annual production capacity of more than 450,000 vehicles, and has completed its role as Tesla’s main vehicle export center. Transformation is also one of the reasons to ensure Tesla's high production capacity.

It is understood that Tesla has already begun to accept Modle Y pre-orders, and the first batch of cars delivered to Europe are the models produced by the Shanghai Super Factory. The current Shanghai Super Factory has become an important supply point for the global market in Tesla's positioning.

In addition to Shanghai, Tesla also plans to build a fourth super factory in Berlin, Germany. In the original plan, the Berlin plant should start production this month. But in the review process, it has not been passed.

In Tesla's plan, the Berlin plant will be used to produce batteries, power systems and complete vehicles. Modle Y is also a planned early production model, with an estimated weekly production of 10,000 units. The new 4680 signal battery will also be mass-produced at the Berlin Super Factory.

However, due to the failure of local audits, Tesla's plans for the German Gigafactory had to be postponed.

India, which is also a populous country, has also been rumored to open a Tesla super factory. But Musk said in a recent Twitter: Tesla will first import cars to India to determine whether it can succeed in entering the country. Musk also said that Tesla's success in importing cars will directly determine whether the company decides to build a super factory in India.

Tesla is also actively "walking around" India, a populous superpower.

There are media reports that Tesla is sending letters to various ministries and commissions in India, hoping to reduce import tariffs on electric vehicles. At the moment, for Tesla, quite a lot of vehicles have to pay 100% tax. Coupled with high taxes, it is difficult for consumers in the original local market to afford it.

For now, Tesla's three super factories in Nevada, New York, and Shanghai have indeed provided important support for Tesla's brilliant financial report for the quarter. However, to achieve the goal of 50% sales growth in the second half of the year, a more reasonable and efficient industrial chain layout is still needed.

Diversified extra money: speculating coins, selling carbon credits

Under the high-profile style of the founder Musk, Tesla is not only a car company, but also a company that makes good use of Bitcoin to "finance".

In the first quarter of this year, Tesla's revenue from earning bitcoin accounted for a considerable portion of its revenue. But often walking by the river, there are no shoes that are not wet. For example, the recent plunge of Bitcoin caused a direct loss of USD 23 million in Bitcoin revenue in the second quarter. If the car is not selling well, Musk may have to be attacked by the outside world.

Tesla likes to use Bitcoin for financial management and has a direct relationship with Musk. Musk, who has always spoken out loud, loves to speak out for the currency circle.

Two months ago, Musk publicly announced on Twitter that "Tesla stopped Bitcoin." When the voice fell, the price of Bitcoin at that time plunged directly by 17%. But in fact, at the beginning of this year Musk publicly expressed his willingness to support Bitcoin more than once. I don't know if this kind of show operation is to buy after pulling down.

In addition to Bitcoin, Musk once caused Dogecoin holders to explode more than 23.7 billion yuan in one sentence. He personally admitted in a talk show that Dogecoin is a scam. After this sentence, it directly caused the Dogecoin in the fire to fall by 40%.

In addition to speculating on coins, Tesla has also been dubbed "selling carbon monks". Under the subsidy of energy saving and emission reduction policies, carbon credits have also become one of Tesla's important revenue sources.

Take Tesla’s financial report last year as an example. In 2020, Tesla’s revenue from selling carbon credits was 1.58 billion yuan. You must know that last year Tesla's net profit was only 721 million yuan. If there is no such part of the income from selling carbon, Tesla's profit will be negative.

Judging from the semi-annual financial report this year, "sale carbon credits" are also an important source of revenue. Tesla’s “carbon sales” revenue in the second quarter was $354 million.

Looking back at the past seven quarters, Tesla has achieved profitability, and this part of the source of income provides an important guarantee for Tesla's profitability.

Take the United States, Tesla's home market, as an example. Automakers need to sell enough zero-emission vehicles to balance the number of polluting vehicles sold to the market. Similarly, if you sell a zero-emission car, the car manufacturer will also get corresponding points, and if it does not reach a certain point, it will be fined. Tesla, which mainly sells new energy vehicles, is a major local credit user in the United States. According to local regulations, credits are also tradable.

In the past two years, Tesla’s “carbon sales” revenues were US$549 million and US$1.58 billion. Some organizations claim that Tesla’s “carbon sales” revenue may exceed 2 billion yuan this year.

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2020, among 117 domestic and foreign auto companies, 43 auto companies have positive points, 71 have negative points, and the remaining three have zero points. Therefore, the market for carbon credits is still considerable. And the funders behind buying these carbon credits are the traditional car companies like Volkswagen.

Coin speculation and carbon sales have also become Tesla's two side businesses.

Twice "Yin and Yang Weird" Apple

Musk twice "yin and yang" Apple on the earnings call:

One is that the outside world misunderstands that Tesla uses a lot of cobalt in raw materials, and mentions that Apple uses nearly 100% cobalt in batteries, mobile phones and notebooks. The cobalt that large technology companies obtain from Congo and other places is often related to the use of child labor and other human rights violations. In fact, they are mocking Apple for suspecting such problems.

Second, on the topic of opening up the charging network to competitors, Musk directly criticized Apple's "walled garden" policy and satirized that Apple strictly controls which software can be installed on the iPhone through the App Store.

In addition, at the meeting, Musk also announced to the public that unless there is a major announcement, he may not come to the earnings conference call in the future.

But like Apple, Tesla also has some controversial issues.

In fact, the popularization of the so-called smart cars is also a torture of privacy issues, such as various cameras, millimeter wave radars, lidars, etc. Not only the privacy of car owners cannot be guaranteed, but also for recorded images during driving. Certain privacy disputes.

In April's "Tesla owner's roof rights protection incident", this issue was brought to the front of the stage. After the incident, the car owner asked Tesla to provide driving data for half an hour before the accident, but was rejected. Then, he released the driving data one minute before the accident. This was publicly opposed by Tesla owners, saying that such behavior was an infringement of their privacy.

Under this year's dazzling financial report, these hidden problems cannot be concealed. And Musk's public character, I don't know whether it will bury the hidden danger of Tesla's development. After all, it is not unreasonable that the old saying "Qiang beats the first bird" has been circulating in China for thousands of years.