Tesla Just Had a Record Quarter for EVs Delivered

Tesla produced 305,407 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022, and delivered 310,048 vehicles in the same time frame, edging out its delivery results from the fourth quarter of 2021.The automaker has produced 291,189 examples of Model 3 and Y in Q1, with the two newer and less expensive models accounting for the vast majority of production.Tesla has raised prices on all models in the US, in response to what Elon Musk called inflationary pressures.Tesla revealed that it had delivered a record number of vehicles in the first quarter of 2022, beating its results from this time last year by a pretty significant margin. In all, the automaker produced 305,407 vehicles in the first three months of this year and delivered 310,048 vehicles, with the Model 3 and the Model Y once again accounting for the lion’s share of production. This represents a modest increase over the last three months of 2021 that saw 308,600 EVs delivered—a quarterly record itself at the time for Tesla.By comparison, during the first quarter of 2021 Tesla had produced 180,338 vehicles, while delivering 184,800. Related Story Elon Musk Launches Tesla’s Giga Berlin Plant The EV maker indicated that it had produced 291,189 examples of Model 3 and Y in the first quarter of 2022 taken together, and delivered 295,324 of them. The Model S and the Model X, collectively, saw just 14,218 units produced and 14,724 delivered, with Tesla’s two older and pricier models still accounting for a tiny percentage of Tesla’s output.It’s worth noting that Tesla posted record Q1 deliveries without major help from Giga Berlin, which opened just days ago and will start giving Tesla’s numbers a boost by the time second quarter results are revealed, while also facing new headwinds from several days of idled production at Giga Shanghai due to COVID mitigation measures in China’s auto production hub. It’s also worth noting that Tesla’s Giga Texas plant will formally open in just a matter of days, with these two new plants expected to give Tesla another major increase in production by the second quarter of this year. Tesla CEO Elon Musk indicated that Giga Texas had already begun production, but the official opening of the plant itself will take place on April 7. Elon Musk personally delivered the first Model Y vehicles at Giga Shanghai in March, with the opening of the plant outside of Berlin attended by German chancellor Olaf Scholz. PoolGetty Images Even with record deliveries in the first quarter of this year Tesla faces a number of challenges through the rest of the year, including significant wait times for some versions of its models, which in some cases stretch to a year, and the prospect of further component shortages and rising prices of raw materials.”In the first quarter, we produced over 305,000 vehicles and delivered over 310,000 vehicles, despite ongoing supply chain challenges and factory shutdowns,” the automaker noted. Related Story Ukraine War Promises More Chaos for Automakers One additional item that Tesla did not have to contend with three months ago is the turmoil we’ve seen in commodities markets, sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the prices of some metals to skyrocket. Tesla has already instituted price hikes as a response to increases in the prices of raw materials, as Elon Musk indicated, and it’s likely that there is further instability ahead when it comes to the prices and availability of certain metals such as aluminum, nickel, and palladium, among others. The full effects of the seismic shifts in the price and supply of metals won’t be felt for some time by Tesla or other automakers, industry observers note.The next major vehicle milestone for Tesla after the formal opening of Giga Texas in a few days may not come for some time, as the automaker has pushed back the start of Cybertruck production to 2023, and has indicated that we won’t see any new vehicles debut this year. But we could still see the Cybertruck make an official debut in production form, as opposed to concept form, later this year, along with a glimpse of its interior at last. SIGN UP