Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q2 2023 earnings call comes on the heels of the company’s Q2 2023 Update Letter. Tesla’s second quarter results were quite impressive, with the electric vehicle maker’s Q2 profits growing 20% to $0.91 per share and revenue increasing 47% to $24.93 billion.
Tesla’s total gross profit for the quarter experienced a 7% growth, amounting to $4.53 billion, while gross margins stood at 18.2%, marking a decrease from 19.3% in the first quarter. Excluding regulatory credits and leases, auto gross margins were reported at 18.1%, down from 18.3% in Q1.
The following are live updates from Tesla’s Q2 2023 earnings call. I will be updating this article in real-time, so please keep refreshing the page to view the latest updates on this story. The first entry starts at the bottom of the page.
17:35 CDT – That wraps up the Q2 2023 earnings call! Once again, thanks for staying with us for yet another live blog! Until the next one!
17:32 CDT – A Goldman Sachs analyst asked about when automotive cogs would be under $36,000. CFO Zachary Kirkhorn noted that it’s hard to say, as there are innumerable factors to consider. The executive noted that commodity prices are dropping, however. “The trend is in being more efficient,” the executive said.
Kirkhorn also clarified that Giga Berlin and Giga Texas are still in their early phases. As the facilities get more optimized, their costs should be improved as well.
17:27 CDT – Oppenheimer asked about the operating system of Dojo. Musk noted that Dojo’s software is a combination of open-source and custom software.
17:24 CDT – Deutsche Bank asks about the estimated release date for a non-beta version of FSD. Musk did not commit to an exact date, though he did predict that FSD will be better than a human by the end of 2023. Musk also mentioned that the price of FSD is actually pretty low, considering the impact of autonomy.
17:18 CDT – Musk noted that it may be reasonable to sacrifice margins considering the potential of autonomy. Autonomy will have significant effects on the car market, the CEO predicted.
17:16 CDT – An analyst question about Dojo is asked, and its effects on Tesla’s financials. Musk noted that Tesla does not specify Dojo’s costs for now, though the company will likely be spending well over a billion on the supercomputer the next year.
As for potential competitors, Musk noted that the costs of developing such hardware are substantial. “In order to copy us, you’d need to spend well over a billion on a training computer,” Musk said. Kirkhorn noted that the numbers that the CEO mentioned for Dojo are between R&D and capital spending.
17:09 CDT – Elon Musk gives a shoutout to ARK Invest, stating that the firm’s analysis is among the best. He also pledges to give long-term value to shareholders. “I’m confident will deliver in the long term, but can’t control the short term,” Musk said.
17:05 CDT – A question about Tesla’s demand is asked. Musk noted that Tesla is fortunate enough to have real-time data on its vehicles’ demand and production. “We’re in turbulent times. I’m very confident in Tesla,” Musk said. The CEO also noted that he sees a least a 5x growth in Tesla, maybe a 10X growth in the future.
17:00 CDT – When asked about Tesla’s estimated demand for Optimus, Musk joked that the humanoid robot’s production would be immense. There are a lot of challenges with Optimus’ ramp, however, as even its actuators have to be custom-made. No suppliers produce the actuators that Tesla needs for its humanoid robot.
What is exciting is that Tesla will be trying out Optimus in its own factories. Elon Musk predicts Optimus will be useful by next year. Elon Musk also talked about using Neuralink to provide bionic parts to amputees, using Optimus parts. Now that’s futuristic!
16:56 CDT – In response to a question about the repairability of megacasted vehicles, Elon Musk joked “There might be why everyone is copying us.” Tesla executives also explained that the repairability of traditionally-produced vehicles is overestimated.
sThe company is working on repairability, of course, and estimates suggest that it is 10x cheaper and 3x faster to fix a vehicle with a megacast. This means that collision repair will be cheaper and faster over time. “I think basically it will be how all cars will be made in the future,” the executive said.
16:54 CDT – A question about the Cybertruck’s demand is asked. Musk’s response is clear. “Demand is so far off the hook, you can’t even see the hook,” the CEO said, though he also set expectations by reminding customers that there is a lot of new technology in the Cybertruck. Mass production is still set for next year.
16:53 CDT – In response to a question about FSD transferability, Musk provided a clear answer. As of Q3, FSD can be transferred to a new car. “It’s a one-time amnesty,” Musk joked.
16:52 CDT – In response to a question about Tesla’s costs and effects from the IRA, Zachary Kirkhorn noted that the company is working on reducing costs in Texas and Berlin, with both facilities seeing improvements during Q2.
16:48 CDT – A question about Tesla Energy was asked. Tesla notes that the Energy Business is gaining some momentum, especially as the Megapack is seeing a lot of demand. Megapack margins remain strong and within expectations, and Autobidder is continuing to grow. Tesla surpassed half a million Powewalls installed as well.
16:46 CDT – First investor question is asked, and it’s about 4680 battery cells. A Tesla executive noted that Tesla is currently focused on yield, though a 25% reduction on cell cost has been achieved. Giga Texas’ 4680 production increased 80% as well. By the time the Cybertruck scales, Tesla expects its 4680 program to be at a pretty good level.
16:44 CDT – Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn takes the stage. He also congratulates the company for yet another record quarter. Kirkhorn notes that Q2 is another record quarter in terms of profit. He also mentioned several of the company’s projects, from the Cybertruck to the next-generation platform. He did, however, also stated that Tesla increased its spending on AI projects, such as FSD, Optimus, and Dojo.
16:41 CDT – The CEO also discussed the rise of Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). In this light, FSD may also be licensed by “major OEMS” in the future. Discussions are already ongoing. In closing, Musk thanked the Tesla team for their hard work once more.
16:39 CDT – Musk confirms that the FSD Beta program has now traveled 300 million miles! He also praised the Cybertruck, noting that Tesla worked hard on every millimeter of the vehicle. “This is the first truck that will have 4 doors, over a 6 ft bed, and can still fit in a 20 ft garage,” Musk said, highlighting that the pickup truck will be delivered this year.
16:36 CDT – Similar to past quarters, Musk highlights Tesla’s work in autonomy, noting that the company’s Robotaxi will have “quasi-infinite demand.” This may sound like another lofty Musk prediction, but with Dojo, Tesla’s FSD and Autopilot efforts are likely to accelerate. As noted by the CEO, Tesla’s Dojo training computer is designed to lower the cost of neural net training.
16:34 CDT – Elon Musk takes the stage. He mentions several of Tesla’s milestones in the second quarter, such as the Model Y becoming the world’s best-selling car in the first quarter. While there is a lot of macro uncertainty, operating margins are still at 10%. Musk warns that Q3 levels will be a bit lower due to factory shutdowns.
16:32 CDT – Tesla VP for Investor Relations Martin Viecha takes the stage. He provides an overview of the rules. Here we go!
16:29 CDT – And the music is starting! I wonder if we’re starting at Elon Time? The Q2 results were great though, so I have a feeling the earnings call will start on time this quarter.
16:25 CDT – Hi, everyone, and welcome to yet another live blog! Tesla’s Q2 numbers are quite impressive, with the company posting better-than-expected results. The Q2 2023 Update Letter also suggested that serious work is underway to produce the Cybertruck, arguably the most highly-anticipated electric vehicle today.
Here’s the YouTube livestream for Tesla’s Q2 2023 earnings call.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.
Investor's Corner
Elon Musk drops a Thanksgiving hint about Starship’s biggest test yet
Elon Musk says Starship Flight 15 will try to catch the ship itself, a first.
Elon Musk says SpaceX’s next Starship flight will try something nobody has done before, by catching the ship itself. Speaking to roughly 2,000 people at the X Takeover event at Giga Texas on Saturday, Musk said Flight 15 is about four to six weeks away and “probably launches a little bit before Thanksgiving, is my guess.”
That is a slip from earlier reporting, which had pointed to a launch as early as October 19. Musk explained why the date keeps moving. “We’re making a bunch of improvements to the rocket between every flight,” he said, adding that there are often hundreds, sometimes thousands, of small changes. This time the list is short, “but some of them take a fair bit of work and we’ve got to go inside the tank to make some of these changes.”
“We’re going to try to catch the ship, which is a super big deal,” Musk said. “If we do so, that’ll be the first time that there’s been full recovery of an orbital class rocket.” SpaceX has already caught the Super Heavy booster with the tower’s mechanical arms, and has talked about catching the ship since late 2025, but the upper stage has never been caught.
Musk also laid out what comes after. “The next big milestone would be to refly both the booster and the ship,” he said, describing a Flight 16 where “all parts of an orbital rocket are reflown.”
The reason SpaceX wants this comes down to cost and cadence. Every Starship ship so far has ended its flight in the ocean, and SpaceX expects most of those water landings to end in fireballs. A ship that returns to Starbase intact can be inspected and flown again. SpaceX’s IPO filing, says Starship V3 is designed to deliver 100 metric tons to orbit in a fully reusable configuration, that SpaceX aims to cut the cost to reach orbit by 99% or more versus the historical average, and that tower catches should allow “multiple launches per day.”
The payoff goes beyond cheaper launches. The next generation Starlink V3 satellites are too large for Falcon 9 and can only fly on Starship, which can carry up to 60 per flight. Flight 14 on September 28 deployed the first 26 of them after Starship reached orbit despite an early engine shutdown, as Teslarati reported. Musk blamed engine computer software, and said the heat shield “was extremely robust,” which he claimed in August had solved Starship’s biggest challenge.
NASA’s Moon plans depend on the same capability. NASA’s inspector general has described a lander mission that needs a propellant depot in low Earth orbit and more than 10 tanker flights, with SpaceX targeting one tanker launch every six days. That schedule only works if ships and boosters come back fast and fly again. Also, ship to ship propellant transfer has not been attempted yet.
One interesting hurdle yet to be explored is bringing the ship back to the launch site, with reentry over land, which will undoubtedly come with a lot of aviation safety reviews.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX reveals how its 1 Million AI satellite network will work and prevent space collisions
SpaceX reveals plans for one million Starmind AI satellites and calls out operators hiding maneuvers.
SpaceX has put the largest satellite count it has ever published into writing, and it says that plan only works if every other operator in orbit starts sharing what it knows.
In a new Space Safety page highlighted Tuesday morning by Sawyer Merritt on X, SpaceX said it “plans to operate up to 100,000 Starlink satellites and up to 1 million Starmind AI satellites to meet the growing demand for broadband and supercompute.” Starlink has a little over 11,000 satellites in orbit today, so the target alone implies roughly a ninefold expansion of the broadband network.
Starmind is SpaceX’s orbital AI compute constellation. Elon Musk confirmed the Starmind name in June after an xAI trademark filing surfaced, and in August SpaceX said it was working with Nvidia on the compute payload. The FCC accepted the filing for up to one million satellites back in February.
FCC accepts SpaceX filing for 1 million orbital data center plan
SpaceX also released a new render of what a full Starmind constellation could look like. Alongside it, SpaceX VP Michael Nicolls explained why the satellites will not operate on their own. “We need to operate clusters of satellites in tight formation to get enough coherent compute to run AI models efficiently,” Nicolls said. “A cluster will be 10-ish satellites connected with 10 terabits or so of bandwidth between them, and interconnected to the broader constellation.”
That is the most specific detail SpaceX has given on how Starmind will be built. Instead of a million independent servers, the network would work as tightly packed groups of about 10 satellites acting as one compute unit, with Starlink’s laser links carrying results back to Earth.
There is a bright and exciting future for humanity ahead – and space is fundamental to that future.
To achieve this, space safety must be done right. We encourage every operator to not only share ephemeris data proactively the same way Starlink already does, but to also adopt the high standards of space safety that SpaceX and Starlink use every day → https://t.co/QizAkQZvEm
— Starlink (@Starlink) October 6, 2026
Packing satellites that close together, at that scale, makes collision avoidance the central problem, and most of the Space Safety page is aimed at other operators. SpaceX said Starlink encountered collision risks with about 650 unique maneuvering third party satellites in 2026, and only about half of them shared data. Over six months, Starlink recorded roughly 164,000 more collision risks where the closest approach came within four hours of an unannounced maneuver.
Some operators keep maneuver plans private over proprietary concerns, while others cannot get government permission to share them. SpaceX called those policies “counterproductive,” saying they “largely only serve to create preventable collision risk between satellites.” Starlink is also offering a free ephemeris sharing and screening platform that returns risk results within a minute, backed by its Stargaze network of 30,000 optical sensors.
The push comes as the Starmind application draws opposition from astronomers and environmental groups. In a September filing with the FCC, SpaceX said each Starmind satellite could weigh up to 4,000 kg, nearly seven times the mass of a Starlink V2 Mini. Musk has brushed off crowding concerns before, telling viewers in June that “space is enormous” and that SpaceX already knows how to run very large constellations safely.
SpaceX’s Starmind page says its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, is designed to produce AI satellites at scale, with deployment of thousands of units starting as soon as late 2027.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported strong delivery figures that beat Wall Street guesses, and they were revealed alongside the company’s second-best quarter in terms of energy deployments ever.
Tesla announced this morning that it delivered 486,532 cars in Q3, while producing 464,391, exceeding analyst consensus, which sat around 462,000 units.
Meanwhile, Tesla reported 13.7 GWh of energy storage deployed for the quarter. That’s the second-best quarter Tesla has ever reported on that side of things.
🚨 Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in Q3, beating expectations at 464,391.
Big Q from the Tesla team, also 13.7 GWh of energy was deployed. pic.twitter.com/olioLWgG7a
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 2, 2026
Vehicle Deliveries
Deliveries were strong, and it was another quarter when Tesla had the opportunity to outshine the Wall Street pundits who are quick to criticize and slow to give credit. Tesla saw a slight decrease in deliveries compared to Q3 2025, but Tesla still had the $7,500 EV Tax Credit to use to help incentivize consumers to pick an EV.
A small decrease of 2.1 percent is pretty telling because it shows Tesla does not need massive federal credits to convince consumers to purchase its vehicles.
It was also the company’s third-best performance all-time in terms of deliveries, trailing that of Q3 2025 with 497,099 deliveries and Q4 2024, when the company handed over 495,570 cars.
We reported several days ago that Tesla Showrooms across the United States were completely bare of inventory or unclaimed units. Many locations also removed Demo Drive units, which had been bought by customers looking to take delivery sooner.
Tesla showrooms picked clean ahead of Q3 end as demand looks strong
Energy Generation
Tesla’s Energy Generation performance in Q3 was also very strong, as the company deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage over the past three months. The only quarter when Tesla reported stronger energy deployment figures was Q4 2025, when 14.2 GWh of energy storage was deployed.
Tesla’s Q3 performance in energy generation has continued to grow each quarter, with the company increasing its deployments by ten-fold since Q3 2021, when just 1.3 GWh was deployed.
It is also nearly double what it was in Q3 2024, when the company reported 6.9 GWh. This is one of Tesla’s quickest-growing divisions, and it flies under the radar with fans and analysts, as many are focused on self-driving or the vehicles themselves.
Tesla Stock
Shares rose 5.07 percent to $372.06 at just after 10 a.m. on the East Coast. This is a rarity for Tesla after a strong delivery report, as positive news usually brings the stock down. Many quarters with extremely robust delivery reports have not been as kind to the Teslanaires of the world.
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