Tesla was started as an electric car company by Elon Musk, who is currently one of the richest people in the world. Their goal is to turn the global car market powered by a green energy source and reduce air pollution from modern gasoline and diesel cars.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, every car manufacturer has had a problem with chip shortages around the world. It seems that Tesla solved this problem because they were the only company that produces so many cars and even opened a new branch in China.
However, tensions between the US and China are increasing day by day and the electric car market is deteriorating. Now Tesla can no longer produce batteries in the U.S. because of the lack of raw materials that must be imported from China. Elon Musk says that there isn’t enough natural graphite left for EV battery production, which will slow down car production drastically for the next couple of months.
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Tesla’s production in China has continued despite the turbulence in the US. In addition, Tesla has managed to open up new strategies, as the supply chain there has not been affected by the pandemic. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Tesla won the electric car battle as other manufacturers were forced to halt production for several weeks. They have their share of problems, but the payoff is in Elon Musk’s favor in every way.
SK Innovation is one of the leading South Korean companies responsible for the production of cells, batteries, modules, and other components. The company said in a quote that “there is currently not enough infrastructure in the U.S. that can deliver artificial graphite at the quantity and cost”.
If Tesla wants to increase production by 50%, as Elon Musk puts it, they need to quickly address and fix problems in the supply chain before they encounter other raw material shortages.
People need to worry because, in the future, Tesla will most likely have to increase the price of electric vehicles to stay profitable. The Model S and Model X SUVs are among the most expensive cars in the entire lineup that haven’t seen a price increase yet.
Although some features have been removed from the Model 3 & Y recently. Elon Musk says that these features are not used very often by users backed by data at the company. So there is no point in adding extra cost and weight to the whole car.
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