- Elon Musk hinted that Tesla could grow its network of Gigafactories, and could ultimately build 12.
- Tesla may be able to announce the location of a new factory later this year, Musk told stockholders.
- Tesla is on track to achieve a production run rate of 2 million EVs by the end of 2022, Musk said.
Elon Musk hinted at plans to expand Tesla's network of Gigafactories as the company aims to meet his ambition to build as many as 20 million electric cars a year.
Addressing stockholders at the firm's annual meeting, billed as Cyber Roundup 2022, Musk said that Tesla was on track to achieve a production run rate of two million vehicles by the end of this year.
"Ultimately we will end up building, I don't know, probably at least 10 or 12 Gigafactories," Musk said at the meeting on Thursday. They will "really be Gigafactories," aiming for output of between one and a half to two million units per factory, Musk said.
Musk's projections that Tesla could make as many as 20 million cars a year by 2030 have previously been met with skepticism by analysts for being too ambitious, but Musk said that the firm has recently completed its three millionth vehicle, "within the last few weeks" — 10 years ago it had made less than 3,000 Musk pointed out.
The company has factories in Fremont, California, Nevada, Shanghai, Berlin-Brandenburg, and Austin, Texas where Musk addressed stockholders. He said that Tesla might be able to announce the location of a new factory later this year.
The Tesla chief asked the crowd where the company should build the new factory, prompting shouts from the crowd. "I'm getting a lot of Canadas," Musk said.
Musk's outlook comes less than a month after the firm released its second quarterly earnings. The $2.3 billion figure was down on the record $3.3 billion it returned to stockholders during Q1. The drop was partly due to disruption caused by the shutdown at its Shanghai factory at the beginning of the year, in line with China's zero-Covid policy.
According to Musk, manufacturing will be Tesla's "long-term sustainable advantage" over its rivals in the race to dominate the still nascent electric vehicle market.
Tesla has faced multiple accusations that factory workers have been mistreated. These include claims by Black employees who alleged that they were subjected to racial harassment.