Hey everybody Rob Maurer here, happy Friday today we are talking about a new 4680 battery production milestone from Tesla, we've also got some updates on Tesla's Gigafactory's new interviews with Elon Musk and a couple other items as well.
Alright looking at the stock, nice day today for Tesla up 1.8% closing at $260.54 while the Nasdaq was down 7 tenths of a percent, so sort of reversing the underperformance that Tesla had had yesterday.
Alright, so Tesla had just tweeted out. A little bit before starting this episode, that they have produced their 10,04680 cell at Gigataxis this week. So a couple of things we need to contextualize there, the first question that comes to mind is does this mean that they've produced their 10 millionth cell and it just happened to be produced at Gigataxis or does it mean that this is the 10 millionth produced by Gigataxis specifically.
So thankfully we've got a couple of other hints from Tesla's past tweets about this subject that can help us determine what is more likely. So back in December, end of December last year, Tesla tweeted congrats to the 4680 cell team on achieving 868,000 cells built in the last seven days equal to more than 1,000 cars.
So that gives us some context of where they were at at that point in time. Obviously most of this, or if not all of this production was happening at the Cato Road facility in California. And you know if you think about the production rate since this period of time it's been 25 weeks or so. So if they had only now produced 10 million over that period of 25 weeks, that's only about 400,000 cells a week, which would be much lower than the rate that they were hitting at this point in time.
Obviously this could have been a peak rate and it could have dialed back production. But with them also adding production at Gigataxis at that point, it seems much, much, much more likely that this tweet today is about specifically just Gigataxis. So that's my primary thought here is that this would just be Texas.
If we look at kind of what this would mean in terms of number of vehicles then 10 million would be about 12,000 cars worth roughly in that ballpark. If you're talking a little bit more than 800 cells per car and probably talking a little bit less than one gigawatt hour of battery production. So if you assume that most of that has happened at Gigataxis specifically and over the last six months or so, it kind of gives you an idea of where the run rate would be a couple gigawatt hours a year, specifically just from Texas.
And then Tesla had said previously that Kato Road was at some point supposed to scale up to about 10 gigawatt hours per year. So I don't think they're probably there and we don't even know if those plans are still on the table. But if you kind of piece those two things together, we could be talking about hopefully a multi gigawatt hour run rate on 4680s at this point. And more importantly, hopefully scaling up pretty quickly.
I think the other item to bring in here as context would be that Tesla has obviously started to sell the 4680 Model Y and added that to the design studio rather than just throwing those vehicles into inventory. So I think that also gives us more confidence that they're probably just talking gigataxis numbers here versus the total which would be quite low if those are going into vehicles, which clearly they are if Tesla's confident enough to put that in the design studio.
So exciting to see this. I think relatively good progress. Obviously, it's slower than what Tesla had originally intended, but making progress and doing so relatively quickly in the grand scheme of things feels slow day to day, but going from nothing to 10 million produced here again in six months suggests that Tesla's got some things figured out and hopefully can continue to scale pretty quickly from here. So we'll see on that, but exciting to see that milestone.
The next update here is from UBS. They took a tour with Tesla's IR team of Gigabirlin. So we had some reporting on that yesterday, but their takeaway was that there was really strong utilization at the factory. They had last seen it on Q3 2022. So compared to their last visit, obviously running at much higher throughput rates now, they say this is with a three shift model. And of course, as Tesla had already confirmed, hitting 5,000 vehicles per week.
They say that the company can increase the output towards 10,000 per week with four shifts on the existing footprint with no significant additional capex required. So obviously a big deal. We don't know exactly what Tesla's plans are there. Originally the intent was to try to get to 10,000 per week by the end of 2023. Could be a little bit on pause with the macro environment. Tesla might be, as we talked about yesterday, focusing a little bit more on cost control rather than really maximizing the output at this point in time.
So from the two where it didn't sound like there were any additional comments on that piece regarding the ramp up. Now they do say in regards to giga casting, Tesla now has six machinery units installed and there are two others to be installed soon. But for now, Tesla is only using giga casting for the rear underbody with of course, 2170s that are coming in from China rather than the both front and back giga castings and structural battery pack, which would of course utilize 4680s. So that will depend I think on how the ramp goes in Texas. They do say all batteries arrive from China. The cell building at giga, giga Berlin looks finished from the outside, but there is no production yet and a timeline for ramping up production for those cells. Aperlin was not provided. So I think that's a result of what we've previously talked about with the inflation reduction act. It seems like Tesla probably re-prioritizing a little bit in terms of battery production, at least for the time being until or if Europe responds to that sort of in kind.
So I think that's what we're seeing here of no production in there yet is basically a direct result of the inflation reduction act. So I think Tesla probably just waiting to see how that plays out before really diverting potentially efforts that could be going to 4680s here in North America to 4680s over in Europe. But nevertheless, it sounds like they are planning to ramp up those front casts. So maybe they ship over from North America. Who knows?
All right, we've also got a lot. I wouldn't say an update necessarily about some reporting here from Reuters on China expansion plans and giga Shanghai. So we'd heard Elon talk about how there were some impediments or some challenges to expanding further in China. Obviously, he just had his visit over in China. So hopefully, you know, making some progress on some of those things. But according to the Reuters report here, China's state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission said that they have been cautious about approving new EV production plans by all automakers because of concerns about over capacity and deepening price war launched by Tesla according to executives at rival companies and analysts.
So not a direct comment here, but obviously we have seen, you know, a little bit of the weakness in the automotive market in China seems to be improving a bit, but probably makes sense that they would be potentially concerned about over capacity as there is a lot of desire to grow and expand production, whether that's from Tesla, BYD or other EV makers there in China. So further, the report says that after meetings with senior Chinese officials, including the vice premier, Musk told a small group of Tesla staff that he saw positive progress in discussions about the expansion, possible expansion in China without elaborating. So again, hopefully that alleviated some roadblocks for reduced roadblocks in China, but you know, Elon has been pretty upfront about, you know, how that sits right now. So we'll see if anything further develops there.
Then we've also got a quick update on Gigataxis here as well. So apparently, according to Tesla scope, the new Model Y performance and the Model Y long range are now made with a new drive unit in the rear. So this is apparently rolling out right now as of June 13th or newer. They say that this new unit has subtle efficiency improvements and utilizes recycled materials. Some other changes were listed of varying significance, but they are not able to share those yet. So we'll see. But it sounds like at least a little bit of a, you know, maybe not next generation, but next iteration of a rear motor there for the Model Y and hopefully they'll be able to share those other changes and we'll hear a little bit more soon.
Sorry if you guys hear sirens. It sounds like it's a lot right now outside. Next update is on Powerwall. So Tesla is implementing a rebate program on Powerwall. People can receive up to $500 back, or I guess $500 back on Powerwalls that are installed between June 15th and October 31st. So Tesla's offering that $500 rebate and it does apply to multiple Powerwalls. Tesla says once confirmed, Tesla will send you a check of $500 for each Powerwall. So that'll run through October 31st as I mentioned there, which kind of an unusual timing to end a promotion like this, but perhaps has something to do with when Tesla maybe intends to launch, you know, the next generation Powerwall 3, which has been rumored quite a bit. There's been some little bits of leaks out about that, but nothing official quite yet. So we'll keep an eye on that, but that could be related to why Tesla's implementing this rebate program at this time.
And then yesterday we talked about with Powerwall's virtual power plant programs, particularly in Puerto Rico. We've got an update here from a Tesla executive that the story that we talked about yesterday has made some progress. And it looks like there has been some more approval and that the energy partner that Tesla would be working with on the VPP, which is the Luma in Puerto Rico, has to be ready by July 14th now with this new approval to be able to offer the VPP.
So it looks like some good progress there in just a day since we have last talked about the Puerto Rico VPP. Next quick update on Tesla Semi. So another recall here for the Semi from NHTSA, or I guess from Tesla, but published on NHTSA's site.
The number of vehicles involved in the recall 36, so no major change in number of semis out there, which isn't surprising. It doesn't seem like Tesla is really actively producing more after getting that test figured out to PepsiCo. This recall was not really anything significant.
It's a door closure warning system issue, which I believe Tesla has resolved over the air. So the most interesting thing is the production thing here. And it talks about vehicles that were produced from November 30th to March 15th. So it could be more vehicles that are produced since then, and maybe Tesla is keeping those internally. But, you know, unfortunately, no major updates here on the number that are at least external, at least involved in this recall.
So the next item is an interview that Yuan did in France. He's been really active. So a number of things that we'll talk about here from the interview, probably about an hour long, nothing that people that have followed closely have really not heard before.
Obviously, the thing that is catching the most headlines is Yuan again, saying that most of the value of Tesla in terms of the market cap is primarily based on autonomy. He said at least in his opinion. So we've heard him, you know, express that before. Makes sense when he's, you know, talking about the value of autonomy being five times the value of an individual vehicle. That's just kind of how Elon thinks about it.
So we won't go too deep into that as we've discussed it before. And Elon again said, although I've said this before, I think we will solve autonomy soon. So another update on that. And probably the only other thing of note relating to Tesla was that he did say that Tesla should be at almost two million vehicles this year, something like that.
So it was just a rough ballpark, but that was his comment in terms of, you know, kind of Tesla's size in terms of automakers and how many deliveries they might have this year. So nothing new there. That's kind of what Tesla's guided to between, you know, that 1.8 to stretch goal, two million number. And it sounds like that's, you know, still kind of what Elon is thinking for this year.
Now, as I mentioned, Elon did have some other meetings with, including with Bernard Arnow. So two of the richest men in the world, you could call them top two, depending on, you know, how you're ranking those and if you include some, maybe family money elsewhere. But obviously two very wealthy individuals here. It sounds like they, you know, Elon and his mom met with their family.
So not sure exactly what was discussed. It doesn't sound like that's been reported on, but one of the sons here was also part of the panel today in that interview, you know, asking you on questions. So kind of interesting to see, probably mostly would be focused on Twitter and advertising type of stuff would be one of us guests and, you know, whatever else sent to billionaires discuss at their leisure. You want also met again, as we anticipated with the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and no further reporting that I've seen on what they have discussed, but obviously they're pushing, you know, France is pushing for some investment from Tesla with Macron saying, let's work together.
So maybe more to come on that. Definitely a lot of action in France right now. And a couple more Elon interviews that will be coming up. So on Monday, there's going to be a guest or Elon will be a guest on a newspaper program, it sounds like there in France as well. And then Zuby music on Twitter tweeted that Elon will have a new podcast or he'll have a new podcast with Elon that will be published tomorrow morning.
So a couple more interviews for Elon to look out for. And then for the rest of the calendar, we do have a market holiday on Monday. So the NASDAQ will be closed for Juneteenth. And then we do have a couple of other macro items next week, but most likely no episode with the markets closed on Monday.
All right. So that our episode for today and for the week as always, thank you for listening. Make sure you subscribe and sign up for notifications. You can also find me on Twitter at Tesla podcast and we'll most likely see you on Tuesday for the June 20th episode of Tesla Daily. Thank you.