Investor's Corner
Top 10 questions Tesla (TSLA) investors want to know from the Q2 2022 earnings call
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is holding its second-quarter earnings call after markets close today, July 20, 2022. As in previous quarters, Tesla investors have voted for the top questions that they want the company’s executives to answer at the upcoming Q2 2022 earnings call.
As noted by Say, the questions that Tesla investors have submitted for the second quarter earnings call represent inquiries from both retail and institutional investors.
Following are the Top 10 Questions from Retail Tesla investors:
- How do you feel the progress of FSD is going, and does Andrej Karpathy leaving have any significant impact on any timelines/potential progress?
- How is the 4680 ramp going, and is Giga Texas producing cells yet?
- Can you speak w/some level of precision on the 4680 ramp, expected vs. actual yield at this point in time? Same for expected daily output vs. actual, and when does output start meeting plan?
- Will there be early access for Tesla long-term investors to have early access to SpaceX as an investment opportunity?
- How does $TSLA plan to handle all the misinformation, attacks, and fake news against Tesla and Elon Musk? We have been dealing with this and it affects the stock.
- How do you plan on executing your strategies to create massive scale? Any ETA on Master Plan Part 3?
- Would you consider buying back shares if we can maintain profitability?
- What are the biggest 4680 headwinds? And what do you think 4680 production output will be by the end of 2022?
- Any update with Tesla HVAC that can be shared?
- Is Tesla still planning a software development kit and app store for third-party developers to make and sell Tesla apps?
And the following are the questions from Tesla institutional investors.
- Chinese EV manufacturers seem to be doing a better job than their western competitors (excluding Tesla) at innovating in software and design. How can Tesla make sure the company is staying ahead of those manufacturers, both within and without China?
- When will Tesla have a unified vector space for both the static and moving object network? Will this be v11 or a later version? If the latter, can you explain what makes it a difficult problem in layman’s terms?
- Elon recently tweeted about lowering prices “once inflation cools down.” Can you elaborate on what you mean by cooling down and how aggressively the company will lower prices? More broadly, how do you think about auto pricing longer-term?
- You made the right economic call before most on inflation when you diversified into bitcoin. It has since shown it’s not much of a hedge in the real-world test the last few months. How do you think about it as an asset over the LT, and what do you need to see to change your view?
- With regards to the tamp of production in Austin and Berlin, how is the situation with regards to the supply of semiconductors, battery cells, and other components? How about cost inflation impacting profitability of these and other plants?
- What’s the source of Energy for Tesla Berlin? Would the plant would be considered a priority for the German government in case of Gas / Energy rationing?
- Assuming technical hurdles are achieved, what is Tesla’s plan for autonomy/robotaxi? Do you expect to first deploy into repetitive routes like Vegas Loop/airport shuttles? or launch fleets in urban areas? What is assessment of political willpower for each?
- What sort of demand has tesla seen for Optimus? How would you characterize this demand in terms of units? Re: economics, a hardware fee with SaaS element seems to make sense but can you guide on dollar amounts the market may be willing to pay per unit + exp. margins (at scale)?
- At what revenue level will Tesla have to grow its Energy Generation and Storage business to reach profitability, and when might that be achieved? Will you need new battery or solar technology advancements?
- How would you rate the EV industry’s progress in achieving sustainable transport, and what are the 3 most likely countries Tesla will need new Gigafactories to achieve sustainable transport?
Disclaimer: I am long TSLA.
Investor's Corner
Tesla Full Self-Driving hits Level 4? One analyst says yes
Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is currently listed as a Level 2 suite in terms of its passenger cars. As its Robotaxi platform continues to move quickly, it has been recognized as a Level 4 ride-sharing program by the State of Texas, as Tesla recently self-certified itself.
However, a Wall Street analyst is arguing that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has effectively achieved Level 4 autonomy in most conditions in all of its vehicles, drawing on personal experience and data released by the company.
Alex Potter of Piper Sandler said in a note to investors on Wednesday that “Tesla has solved the self-driving puzzle,” pointing to decisions to offer insurance discounts for FSD-enabled policies as a signal of confidence, which is backed up by stellar safety records compared to human driving.
Investing.com initially reported on Potter’s new note.
Additionally, Potter looks at the recent start of Cybercab production at Giga Texas as a potential indication that Tesla is ready to offer some level of unsupervised driving at least in the near future. The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, completely eliminating the ability for human input.
He also sees Tesla’s allocation of “several hundred million USD (if not $1B+)” as confidence internally, seeing as it would be tough to set aside that amount of capital toward a project that the company does not see as relatively near-term.
Forward thinking, especially as Cybercab has no human controls, it would make sense that Tesla is at least close to self-driving. How close is another question.
Tesla has routinely teased that unsupervised FSD is close, but there are still a lot of things it feels as if the company has to roll out some more capability, including unsupervised parking features, known as “Banish,” better operation with regional self-driving performance, and other improvements.
That is not to say that Tesla FSD is super impressive already. It has already completed coast-to-coast drives across the United States and Canada, it routinely takes the stress out of driving for most people, and it has proven through Tesla Safety Reports that it is safer and involved in accidents less frequently than humans.
🚨 These are the first-ever FSD safety statistics out of the Netherlands, showing it was over 3.5x safer than human driving on Dutch roads.
The most recent numbers out of Tesla for North America show:
-Over 5.5 million miles between accidents for Teslas using FSD
-660k miles… https://t.co/XKlRzgSGEh pic.twitter.com/HX6kzh0ZKc— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 9, 2026
Even Potter believes it is capable, as he used it to go from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in April.
“There’s no substitute for personal experience,” he wrote.
Investor's Corner
Tesla just did something in South Korea that no foreign carmaker has ever done
Tesla’s Model Y just became South Korea’s best-selling car, beating every domestic model in May.
Tesla did something last month that no foreign car has ever done in South Korea by outselling every vehicle in the country, domestic or imported, finishing the month with Model Y as the single best-selling car across the entire Korean market. According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association released on June 4, the Model Y recorded 8,762 units sold in May, pushing the Kia Sorento into second place at 7,836 units and the Hyundai Grandeur into third at 5,183 units. It is the first time an imported vehicle has outsold every domestic model on a single-month basis.
Tesla imported 10,866 cars into South Korea in May, making it the top import brand for the fourth consecutive month. BMW followed at 6,555 units, less than two-thirds of Tesla’s total, while BYD registered just 1,032 units. The combined domestic sales of GM Korea, Renault Korea, and KG Mobility last month totaled just 7,019 units, meaning a single Tesla model outsold three Korean automakers combined.
Tesla FSD earns high praise in South Korea’s real-world autonomous driving test
South Korea has historically been one of the hardest markets for foreign automakers to crack. Hyundai and Kia together control close to 70% of the overall market and carry deep consumer loyalty built over decades. Tesla’s path into this market was an uphill battle due to high import duties, limited service infrastructure, and early skepticism about charging networks. In 2024, the Model Y was the best-selling imported car in South Korea with 18,717 units for the full year. By 2025, after the Juniper refresh, it cleared 50,000 units and took the top spot among all EVs.
Year to date, Tesla has a 250.8% increase in the country over the same period last year, and now holds a 30.8% share of the entire imported car segment for 2026. EVs as a category represented 48.6% of all imported passenger car registrations in May. As Teslarati has reported, the Juniper refresh brought meaningful improvements to range, interior quality, and ride refinement that addressed the most common criticisms of earlier Model Y versions. Those upgrades appear to be resonating in markets like South Korea where buyers compare Tesla directly against high end domestic competitors.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX IPO set to provide massive $11.6B windfall for teacher pension plan
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) stands to reap one of the most extraordinary returns in pension fund history thanks to a bold 2019 investment in SpaceX.
According to a recent report from The Globe and Mail, the Toronto-based fund invested roughly $300 million CAD (~$220 million USD at the time) in Elon Musk’s space company as its inaugural deal through the Teachers’ Innovation Platform.
At SpaceX’s anticipated $1.75 trillion IPO valuation, set for a mid-June debut on Nasdaq under ticker $SPCX, that stake could now be worth up to $11.6 billion USD. This would represent a roughly 50x return and easily become OTPP’s most successful single investment ever.
The fund manages $279 billion in assets for approximately 346,000 working and retired teachers in Ontario, potentially delivering an average boost of around $33,500 per member if fully realized.
SpaceX has filed its S-1 and plans to price shares at $135 each, aiming to raise a record $75 billion in what would be the largest IPO in history, surpassing Saudi Aramco. The company reported $18.67 billion in revenue for 2025, driven primarily by Starlink satellite internet growth and NASA contracts, though it continues to post significant losses tied to ambitious R&D in Starship and AI initiatives.
Important pieces moving forward include:
- Starlink Expansion: The satellite broadband service is scaling rapidly, targeting global connectivity, especially in underserved rural and remote areas. This segment offers massive recurring revenue potential as numbers climb.
- Starship and Reusability Leadership: SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship aims to slash launch costs dramatically, enabling frequent missions, Mars ambitions, and lucrative government/defense contracts. Success here could unlock exponential growth.
- AI and Diversification: Recent moves, including ties to xAI, position SpaceX in high-growth AI infrastructure, broadening beyond traditional aerospace.
- Validation Scrutiny: While the $1.75 trillion target excites investors, analysts like Morningstar value the company closer to $780 billion, citing high multiples (around 90x trailing revenue) and execution risks. A 180-day lockup period will prevent early investors like OTPP from selling immediately post-IPO.
The irony has not been lost on observers. Ontario’s government previously canceled a Starlink rural internet contract amid political tensions involving Musk, yet the pension fund’s savvy investment, made when SpaceX was valued around $33-36 billion, and Starlink was nascent, delivers outsized gains independent of politics.
For OTPP, this windfall strengthens its already solid 111 percent funding ratio and underscores the value of patient, innovation-focused capital allocation.
For SpaceX, the IPO marks a new chapter: greater transparency, access to public markets for talent retention and growth capital, and heightened pressure to deliver on its multi-planetary vision.
All eyes are fixed on whether SpaceX can justify its lofty valuation through sustained execution. For Ontario teachers, the returns are already stellar, but SpaceX, like other Musk companies in the past, has plenty of things to prove. Perhaps the most ideal person for the job is at the helm, hoping to bring the company to a massive valuation.