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Top Tesla Q3 2021 earnings call questions from retail & institutional investors

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Another quarter has come and gone for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) this year. Now, Tesla is preparing for another earnings call. Below are some questions investors want answered at the Q3 2021 earnings call.

Top Retail Questions

  1. What is the Tesla’s goal for vehicle production capacity for the 4 current factories (Fremont, Shanghai, Austin, and Berlin) by 2024?
  2. Service remains an issue with appointments available weeks, or even months, out. Likewise, Supercharger wait times have become untenable at some locations. What concrete steps is Tesla taking to improve the customer experience in these two key areas? 
  3. Is Tesla considering any other ideas (other than FSD) with real world AI that can bring additional software revenue to Tesla? If not, can Tesla consider building interesting games around FSD data?
  4. How has FSD take rate changed since introduction of Monthly Subscription? Are there any plans to increase FSD pricing as wider release becomes imminent?
  5. Can Tesla allow for FSD to be transferred to another vehicle at a fee? (Something less than the 10k)? Early adopters are paying the price if they want to upgrade their vehicle. You lose the value on the trade in and now have to buy in at the now higher cost.

Top Institutional Investor Questions

  1. When should we expect the first vehicles to be delivered with 4680 cells?
  2. Do you still expect to start production of the $25,000 model in 2023? What are the biggest hurdles from now until then?
  3. With FSD Beta training data set to explode exponentially as the software is released to wider and wider audience, are there any early takeaways with regards to how quickly versions can iterate and be pushed out? From bi-weekly to weekly? or even daily?

Shortly after the third quarter wrapped up, Tesla reported stellar production and delivery numbers for Q3 2021, surpassing its 2020 results with one quarter left in the year. Last year, Tesla aimed to deliver 500,000 vehicles and missed its goal by a sliver. In 2021, the company aimed to beat its deliveries from last year. 

Tesla achieved its goal, delivering a total of 627,350 vehicles this year so far. With such an accomplishment, Tesla has increased the chances of a strong fourth quarter and outstanding end-of-year results.

Disclosure: I am long TSLA.

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, reach out to me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla starts testing its Starlink-integrated Cybercab on public roads

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Credit: lottherm | TikTok

Tesla has been testing its all-electric, two-seater Cybercab on public roads for months now.

Nearly two years after its unveiling, the Cybercab has been seen by perhaps tens of thousands as the company has expanded testing to a handful of states, including Texas, California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, and New York, among several others.

However, nobody has seen one like this quite yet.

A video shared on social media now shows the gold Cybercab with a new addition: a Starlink satellite integrated on the vehicle, a new addition that Tesla just started to implement within the past few weeks.

@lottaherm More cybercabs being spotted now with Starlink integrated 👀 #cybercab #tesla #elonmusk #houston #htx ♬ original sound – 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗢𝘄𝗹𝘀|𓅓

Just a week ago, Tesla announced that it had built its first Cybercab with Starlink integration and showed it off at Gigafactory Texas. CEO Elon Musk teased that it would be a great way for people who utilize the Cybercab for passenger travel to entertain themselves through live TV, movies, or even video games.

Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said it is also a huge advantage for Tesla as it will enable constant connectivity between the company and the fleet of Cybercabs it has. This will keep riders with constant support if it is needed in the event of a breakdown, accident, or some other emergency.

Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you

It appears that this particular unit was spotted in Houston, Texas, a location where the company’s Robotaxi platform is already active. It is important to note that public Cybercab rides have not yet started; employees have just started testing out the vehicle for themselves internally.

Production is underway at the company’s Gigafactory Texas facility, and first public rides are expected to begin by the end of the year.

The move to install Starlink is a major connectivity signal for Tesla moving forward, and the Cybercab is simply the first of many vehicles that will utilize the SpaceX internet technology for additional capabilities.

Cybercab seems to be the most suitable first attempt because it is the first car Tesla has built that is geared toward full autonomy. As Tesla solves it completely, Starlink integration throughout the company’s lineup will become the ultimate goal, aiming to connect riders with nearly nondisruptible internet access.

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Tesla is building its largest Supercharger on the East Coast in New York City

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tesla store in New York City
Credit: Tesla

Tesla is building its largest East Coast Supercharger in New York City, planning to bring a 64- to 68-stall station to Queens, New York.

It will end up being tied for the largest Supercharger on the East Coast with this number of stalls. The largest on the Eastern Seaboard is located in Halifax, North Carolina, and is also 68 stalls.

The location is also set to be fitted with two pull-through stalls for EVs with trailers. We’ve seen Tesla implement these types of parking spots at newer locations as EV ownership continues to expand to those who do more than simply drive their cars.

There are plenty of Superchargers in the New York City metro, but they are mostly located in boroughs outside of Manhattan. There are five Superchargers in various neighborhoods of Manhattan, but there are limited plugs; usually only four per location. There are plenty of Destination Chargers in the Big Apple, though.

Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn have become popular locations for companies to build out charging infrastructure for those who live in the highly populated boroughs. There is simply much more real estate to build effective EV charging stations.

Tesla spends $18M to expand Supercharging in New York City

The Supercharger will be located in Maspeth, Queens, at 48-26 54th Road. Maspeth has I-495 running through it, so this will be a great location for Tesla owners to hop off the highway on their way to Long Island or to Manhattan to charge up before continuing their journey.

Tesla has done a really great job of expanding its charging footprint throughout the past several years, especially by building large-scale projects that cater to areas that have a high volume of traffic and are main routes of travel to major areas. Tesla is making an effort to make charging less stressful and more widely available in these concentrated regions.

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SpaceX just launched a secret payload from California

SpaceX launched a classified Space Force mission from Vandenberg, revealing almost nothing about its payload.

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Space Force officials say the Falcon 9 booster pictured here in SpaceX's rocket factory will have to wait a few months longer for its launch debut. (SpaceX)

SpaceX launched a classified Falcon 9 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday night, and the government released almost nothing about what was on board. The mission, designated USSF-366, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E with a window that opened at 9:52 p.m. ET and ran into the early hours of Sunday, according to SpaceX’s own mission page, which described the payload only as classified. SpaceX confirmed the launch on its X account and pointed viewers to a livestream that began roughly ten minutes before liftoff.


The lack of detail did not stop analysts from filling in the blanks. Independent tracking of the rocket’s stage drop zones matched the pattern SpaceX has used on previous Starlink Group 15 missions, according to reporting from Outer Space Today, which pointed to Starshield as the likely payload rather than a one off government satellite. Starshield is SpaceX’s national security product, a version of the Starlink satellite bus built to Pentagon specifications for earth observation, communications and hosted payloads. Unlike consumer Starlink, government agencies do not have to disclose what Starshield satellites are actually doing once they reach orbit.

USSF-366 is the latest entry in a steady flow of classified and semi classified work between SpaceX and the Space Force. The company picked up a $178.5 million task order in April to launch missile tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency, as Teslarati reported at the time, and followed that in July with a $1.6 billion award covering 18 more Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg through the end of 2027, also detailed by Teslarati. Add those contracts up and SpaceX’s Pentagon business for 2026 alone tops $8 billion.

SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites

The Falcon 9 that flew Saturday landed back near the launch site, producing the sonic booms that have become routine for residents near Vandenberg. What is less routine is how little the public will likely ever learn about what the rocket carried. SpaceX and the Space Force have not confirmed the Starshield connection, and government satellite programs built on commercial buses rarely get identified beyond a mission number and a general orbit. For a company that live streams almost everything else it does, from Starship test flights to Optimus robot demos, USSF-366 is a reminder that some of SpaceX’s busiest work now happens entirely out of public view.

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