Tesla hints at the arrival of cheaper electric cars

Tesla chief engineer Lars Moravy said during a presentation that production costs will be halved on the next generation of Tesla cars. This is partly possible because the complexity of the assembly and the time required for it are significantly reduced.

More details about the next generation of Tesla cars are not yet available. Tesla boss Elon Musk has repeatedly promised an affordable electric car at around $25,000.

Two new models

Musk showed a graph of Tesla’s expectations for the global electric vehicle fleet. It showcased not only the company’s existing cars and trucks, but also the Cybertruck and a hidden future Tesla model that are part of a market of 300 million vehicles. A second, smaller, unannounced model was shown as part of the larger market: 700 million vehicles.

New power units for the next generation of Tesla cars will not use rare-earth minerals, the company said. The current Model Y drive units now use 520 grams.

Tesla’s goal is to produce 20 million electric cars a year. Last year the company made just under 2 million and the total number is now 4 million.

“The future of sustainable energy is feasible”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk started the presentation with his “blueprint” for the “sustainable energy future”. This plan includes a transition to sustainable electricity, electric vehicles, heat pumps, hydrogen and more sustainable ships and boats.

According to the proposal, heat pumps could account for 22% of the reduction in fossil fuel use, about the same as the transition to electric transport (21%). So the company might also want to start producing heat pumps for homes, Musk said.

“Only 10 trillion needed”

The CEO of Tesla thinks “only” an investment of a total of 10 trillion dollars is necessary for the production of sustainable energy. “It’s not a lot compared to the whole global economy.” According to Musk, “much less” energy is needed for the electrified economy compared to an economy that depends on fossil fuels.

According to Tesla, switching to renewable energy does not have to cost too many resources. “The electrified economy needs less mining than the current economy,” Musk said. According to Tesla’s calculations, it would require less than 30% of the available amount of nickel and lithium on Earth.

Humanoid robots

Tesla is again showing progress with its humanoid robot, which it wants to use in its factories, among other things. But Musk sees many applications of the “humanoid” in everyday life. In the future, according to him, there would even be “more humanoids than humans” on earth.