Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been claiming exponential growth for Tesla for years. And it’s happening.
The U.S. automaker announced Saturday that it has produced its 5 millionth vehicle globally.
To place this into perspective, Tesla celebrated its 1 millionth vehicle just three and a half years ago, in March 2020. And just this March 1 it reported making 4 million cumulative vehicles.
This week, we produced our 5 millionth automotive—thanks Tesla owners to your ongoing support!
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 16, 2023
Tesla passed one million annual EV sales in 2022, buoyed by production ramps in Germany and Texas. It’s been targeting 1.8 to 2 million for 2023, aided by those facilities.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts 14 million EV sales globally in 2023—a 35% year-over-year improvement. If that’s the case, Tesla could amount to considered one of every seven EVs sold globally.
2023 Tesla Model Y – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
No other automaker approaches Tesla’s numbers based on EVs alone. While last 12 months many had predicted VW to overtake Tesla in 2024, Tesla now has much more of a lead versus the German automaker—and the Model Y stays the top-selling EV on its home turf, outselling the VW ID.4 and ID.3 combined in Europe.
China’s BYD has been the closest rival on this race to speed up EV production on a worldwide scale, but it surely includes an asterisk. BYD claimed to have hit 5 million cumulative “recent energy vehicle” sales in August—a figure that features plug-in hybrids, which BYD has pushed out to South American markets, for example.
If getting people to plug in and drive electric locally is the priority, in sheer production of plug-in vehicles, BYD stays within the lead. It claimed to supply greater than 1.5 million plug-in vehicles in the primary half of 2023 and be on course for 3 million for this 12 months alone.
BYD Han
BYD has also been going big on electric trucks and buses, in addition to supplying its Blade battery to other firms—like Mercedes-Benz reportedly. And Tesla.
Few other automakers can yet claim the exponential growth of Tesla and BYD in EVs. Nissan reported earlier this summer that it had surpassed a million global EV sales—a milestone it took 12 years to attain.
Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE sedan at Tesla Supercharger station
EV production wasn’t the one big milestone Tesla has reported up to now month. In September it reached 50,000 Superchargers globally. In response to data from the DOE’s Alternative Fuels Data Center about 21,000 of those are within the U.S.. With deals recently inked with a broad swath of automakers for Supercharger access and the adoption of Tesla’s NACS charge port, that network’s growth may also must speed up to maintain pace with Tesla’s vehicle sales.
This Article First Appeared At www.greencarreports.com
