Tesla Profile
Tesla, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, sells and leases high-performance fully electric vehicles and energy generation and storage systems, and offers services related to its products. The company generally sells its products directly to customers, and continues to grow its customer-facing infrastructure through a global network of vehicle service centers, Mobile Service, body shops, Supercharger stations and Destination Chargers to accelerate the widespread adoption of its products. The company emphasizes performance, attractive styling and the safety of its users and workforce in the design and manufacture of its products and are continuing to develop full self-driving technology for improved safety.
Segments
The company operates through two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage.
Automotive
The Automotive segment includes the design, development, manufacturing, sales and leasing of high-performance fully electric vehicles, as well as sales of automotive regulatory credits. Additionally, the Automotive segment also includes services and other, which includes non-warranty after-sales vehicle services and parts, sales of used vehicles, retail merchandise, paid Supercharging and vehicle insurance revenue.
Energy Generation and Storage
The Energy Generation and Storage segment includes the design, manufacture, installation, sales and leasing of solar energy generation and energy storage products and related services and sales of solar energy systems incentives.
Products and Services
Automotive
The company manufactures four different consumer vehicles – the Model 3, Y, S and X. Model 3 is a four-door mid-size sedan that it designed for manufacturability with a base price for mass-market appeal. Model Y is a compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) built on the Model 3 platform with seating for up to seven adults. Model S is a four-door full-size sedan and Model X is a mid-size SUV with seating for up to seven adults. Model S and Model X feature the highest performance characteristics and longest ranges that the company offers in a sedan and SUV, respectively.
In December 2022, the company began early production and deliveries of the Tesla Semi, its first commercial electric vehicle. The company has also announced several planned electric vehicles to address additional vehicle markets, including specialized consumer electric vehicles in Cybertruck and the new Tesla Roadster. The company plans to continue leveraging developments in its proprietary Full Self-Driving (FSD), battery cell and other technologies.
Energy Generation and Storage
Energy Storage Products
Powerwall and Megapack are the company’s lithium-ion battery energy storage products. Powerwall is designed to store energy at a home or small commercial facility. Megapack is an energy storage solution for commercial, industrial, utility and energy generation customers, multiple of which may be grouped together to form larger installations of gigawatt hours (GWh) or greater capacity.
The company also continues to develop software capabilities for remotely controlling and dispatching its energy storage systems across a wide range of markets and applications, including through its real-time energy control and optimization platforms.
Solar Energy Offerings
The company sells retrofit solar energy systems to customers and channel partners and also makes them available through power purchase agreement (PPA) arrangements. The company purchases most of the components for its retrofit solar energy systems from multiple sources to ensure competitive pricing and adequate supply. The company also designs and manufactures certain components for its solar energy products.
The company sells its Solar Roof, which combines premium glass roof tiles with energy generation, directly to customers, as well as through channel customers. The company continues to improve its installation capability and efficiency, including through collaboration with real estate developers and builders on new homes.
Automotive
Battery and Powertrain
The company’s core vehicle technology competencies include powertrain engineering and manufacturing and its ability to design vehicles that utilize the unique advantages of an electric powertrain. The company has designed its proprietary powertrain systems to be adaptable, efficient, reliable and cost-effective while withstanding the rigors of an automotive environment. The company offers dual motor powertrain vehicles, which use two electric motors to maximize traction and performance in an all-wheel drive configuration, as well as vehicle powertrain technology featuring three electric motors for further increased performance in certain versions of Model S and Model X and the Tesla Semi.
The company maintains extensive testing and R&D capabilities for battery cells, packs and systems, and has built an expansive body of knowledge on lithium-ion cell chemistry types and performance characteristics.
Vehicle Control and Infotainment Software
The performance and safety systems of the company’s vehicles and their battery packs utilize sophisticated control software. Control systems in the company’s vehicles optimize performance, customize vehicle behavior, manage charging and control all infotainment functions. The company develops almost all of this software, including most of the user interfaces, internally and update its vehicles’ software regularly through over-the-air updates.
Self-Driving Development and Artificial Intelligence
The company has expertise in developing technologies, systems and software to enable self-driving vehicles using primarily vision-based technologies. The company’s FSD Computer runs its neural networks in its vehicles. The company is also developing additional computer hardware to better enable the massive amounts of field data captured by its vehicles to continually train and improve these neural networks for real-world performance.
The company offers in its vehicles certain advanced driver assist systems under its Autopilot and FSD options. The company’s systems provide safety and convenience functionality that relieves drivers of the most tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel much like the system that airplane pilots use, when conditions permit.
The company is also applying its artificial intelligence learnings from self-driving technology to the field of robotics. For example, in 2022, the company previewed Optimus, a robotic humanoid which is controlled by the same AI system.
Energy Generation and Storage
Energy Storage Products
The company leverages many of the component-level technologies from its vehicles in its energy storage products. The company’s expertise in power electronics enables its battery systems to interconnect with electricity grids while providing fast-acting systems for power injection and absorption. The company has also developed software to remotely control and dispatch its energy storage systems.
Solar Energy Systems
The company has engineered Solar Roof over numerous iterations to combine aesthetic appeal and durability with power generation. The efficiency of its solar energy products is aided by its own solar inverter, which incorporates its power electronics technologies. The company designed both products to integrate with Powerwall.
Design and Engineering
Automotive
The company has established significant in-house capabilities in the design and test engineering of electric vehicles and their components and systems.
The company is also expanding its manufacturing operations globally while taking action to localize its vehicle designs and production for particular markets, including country-specific market demands and factory optimizations for local workforces.
Energy Generation and Storage
The company’s expertise in electrical, mechanical, civil and software engineering allows it to design, engineer, manufacture and install energy generating and storage products and components, including at the residential through utility scale. For example, the modular design of the company’s Megapack utility-scale battery line is intended to significantly reduce the amount of assembly required in the field. The company also customizes solutions, including its energy storage products, solar energy systems and/or Solar Roof for customers to meet their specific needs.
Sales and Marketing
Automotive
Direct Sales
The company’s vehicle sales channels include its website and an international network of company-owned stores. In some jurisdictions, the company also has galleries to educate and inform customers about its products, but such locations do not transact in the sale of vehicles.
Used Vehicle Sales
The company’s used vehicle business supports new vehicle sales by integrating the trade-in of a customer’s existing Tesla or non-Tesla vehicle with the sale of a new or used Tesla vehicle. The Tesla and non-Tesla vehicles the company acquires as trade-ins are subsequently remarketed, either directly by it or through third parties. The company also remarkets used Tesla vehicles acquired from other sources, including lease returns.
Public Charging
The company has a growing global network of Tesla Superchargers, which are its industrial-grade, high-speed vehicle chargers. Where possible, the company co-locates Superchargers with its solar and energy storage systems. In November 2021, the company began to offer Supercharger access to non-Tesla vehicles in certain locations in support of its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
The company also works with a wide variety of hospitality, retail and public destinations, as well as businesses with commuting employees, to offer additional charging options for its customers, as well as single-family homeowners and multi-family residential entities, to deploy home charging solutions.
In-App Upgrades
As its vehicles are capable of being updated remotely over-the-air, the company’s customers may purchase additional paid options and features through the Tesla app or through the in-vehicle user interface.
Energy Generation and Storage
The company markets and sells its solar and energy storage products to residential, commercial and industrial customers and utilities through a variety of channels, including through its website, stores and galleries, as well as through its network of channel partners, and in the case of some commercial customers, through PPA transactions.
Service and Warranty
Automotive
Service
The company provides service for its electric vehicles at company-owned service locations and through Tesla Mobile Service technicians who perform work remotely at customers’ homes or other locations. Performing vehicle service itself allows it to identify problems and implement solutions and improvements faster, and optimize logistics and inventory better, than traditional automobile manufacturers and their dealer networks. The connectivity of the company’s vehicles also allows it to diagnose and remedy many problems remotely and proactively.
Vehicle Limited Warranties and Extended Service Plans
The company provides a manufacturer’s limited warranty on all new and used Tesla vehicles it sells, which may include separate limited warranties on certain components, specific types of damage or battery capacity retention. The company also offers extended service plans that provide coverage beyond the new vehicle limited warranties for certain models in specified regions.
Energy Generation and Storage
The company provides service and repairs to its energy product customers, including under warranty where applicable. The company generally provides manufacturer’s limited warranties with its energy storage products and offer certain extended limited warranties that are available at the time of purchase of the system. If it installs a system, the company also provides certain limited warranties on its installation workmanship.
For retrofit solar energy systems, the company provides separate limited warranties for workmanship and against roof leaks, and for Solar Roof, it also provides limited warranties for defects and weatherization.
Financial Services
Automotive
Purchase Financing and Leases
The company offers leasing and/or loan financing arrangements for its vehicles in certain jurisdictions in North America, Europe and Asia itself and through various financial institutions. Under certain of such programs, the company has provided resale value guarantees or buyback guarantees that may obligate it to repurchase the subject vehicles at pre-determined values.
Insurance
In 2021, the company launched its insurance product using real-time driving behavior in select states, which offers rates that are often better than other alternatives and promotes safer driving. The company’s insurance products are currently available in 12 states.
Energy Generation and Storage
The company offers certain financing options to its solar customers, which enable the customer to purchase and own a solar energy system, Solar Roof or integrated solar and Powerwall system. The company’s solar PPAs, offered primarily to commercial customers, charge a fee per kilowatt-hour based on the amount of electricity produced by its solar energy systems.
Regulations
Vehicle Safety and Testing
In the U.S., the company’s vehicles are subject to regulation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), including all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and the NHTSA bumper standard. As a manufacturer, the company must self-certify that its vehicles meet all applicable FMVSS and the NHTSA bumper standard, or otherwise are exempt, before the vehicles may be imported or sold in the U.S.
The company is required to comply with other federal laws administered by NHTSA, including the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, Theft Prevention Act requirements, labeling requirements and other information provided to customers in writing, Early Warning Reporting requirements regarding warranty claims, field reports, death and injury reports and foreign recalls, a Standing General Order requiring reports regarding crashes involving vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems, and additional requirements for cooperating with compliance and safety investigations and recall reporting.
History
The company was founded in 2003. It was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 2003. The company was formerly known as Tesla Motors, Inc. and changed its name to Tesla, Inc. in 2017.
