During a recent interview, Elon Musk has shown his frustration with the media coverage of “Tesla Battery Day,” an event in which the Californian firm showed numerous novelties (most of them focused on improving the production processes of the packs of batteries), but was nevertheless warmly received by the public.
According to the executive, the media’s response was “sad”, emphasizing their belief that there is a notable lack of appreciation for innovations in manufacturing. “The press coverage of this event was sad. Most of the coverage was a sad reflection of his understanding, actually. “
The truth is that the presentation, somewhat chaotic, disappointed more than one because many of the interesting promised innovations will reach the brand’s models within several years. In some cases, a specific timetable was not even given. Market reactions were swift, and after the event, Tesla shares fell slightly.
This is something the average person has no idea about. The smart people on Wall Street generally have no idea about manufacturing and how complicated it is. They think that once you’ve prototyped, that’s the hard part, and everything else is a trivial copy. It is not. Maybe it’s 1% of the problem. Large-scale manufacturing, especially of new technology, is 1,000-10,000% more difficult than making a prototype.
Among other novelties, Tesla took advantage of its “Battery Day” to present the new 4680 cells, which will initially be released by the Semi truck and the Cybertruck pick-up. A new process for obtaining more sustainable lithium was also announced, creating new metallurgical silicon anodes, and even the arrival of a $25,000 Tesla by 2023.
Despite Musk’s complaints, it is still true that the media coverage of “Tesla Battery Day” was extensive, so perhaps the problem is that the public and markets were waiting for announcements of imminent news, and no promises of the future, a strategy that has worked well for the brand in the past (the Semi and Roadster, which have not yet entered production, were presented at the end of 2017) … but which is beginning to show signs of exhaustion.