Alec Hogg: The Tesla conundrum — Elon will keep surprising us
Mr Market has turned negative on the stock, knocking 16% off the Tesla price in two trading sessions – despite Musk fulfilling a promise to release "something insane".
The boy from Pretoria's key message was the invention of a new battery cell, the "4680", which provide five times more capacity and six times more energy than what's currently available – at a 14% lower price. Musk projected savings of 56% on the cost per kilowatt-hour, which will bring the cost of running an electric vehicle to parity with internal combustion engines. The first of the new batteries will be installed in Tesla vehicles in three years.
This breakthrough, Musk said, will enable Tesla to drop its entry vehicle price by a quarter to $25 000, and justify a production increase from the current 367 500 to over 20m vehicles a year. Among investments already made is the purchase of a lithium deposit in Nevada, which he also said would be mined through novel extraction methods.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___