Business Insights: Global Markets, Strategy & Economic Trends
- Tesla sold 13.5 gigawatt-hours of storage batteries in the quarter, boosting its energy-storage business and revenue.
- The war in Iran pushed up fossil fuel costs, making electric cars and batteries more attractive to consumers and businesses.
- Investors value Tesla at about $1.3 trillion, betting on dominance in autonomous taxis despite fewer operational vehicles than rivals.
In the United States, electric vehicles account for only about 6 percent of the new car market. Tesla’s U.S. sales fell 20 percent in the second quarter, according to estimates by Cox Automotive, a research firm.
Weak electric car sales in the United States have also weighed on other automakers. General Motors said on Wednesday that its U.S. sales in the second quarter fell 4 percent from a year earlier, partly because it sold fewer battery-powered models. Sales of the electric Chevrolet Equinox fell 62 percent in the quarter.
Tesla also said it sold storage batteries with a capacity of 13.5 gigawatt-hours in the second quarter, up from 9.6 gigawatt-hours a year earlier. Batteries bought by homeowners, businesses and electric utilities to store energy, or to smooth out fluctuations in electricity demand or supply, have become an important business for Tesla.
Both Tesla’s car and battery businesses have likely benefited from the war in Iran, which sharply drove up the costs of oil, liquefied natural gas and other commodities. Because electric cars use no fuel and batteries often store energy generated by solar or wind farms, they are much more attractive to consumers and businesses when fossil fuels become more expensive or are in short supply.
At Tesla, cars remain the largest source of revenue, but investors are more focused on the company’s self-driving technology, which Wall Street believes will become a bigger and more lucrative business over time. Investors value Tesla at $1.3 trillion, far more than any other automaker, based on expectations that the company will dominate the market for autonomous taxis.
So far, self-driving taxis do not generate significant revenue, and Tesla has fewer of them on the road than other companies. Tesla is operating 69 autonomous ride-hailing vehicles in Texas, according to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. That compares with 628 operated by Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company, and 317 by Avride, a company based in Austin, Texas, that offers driverless rides in Dallas in a partnership with Uber.
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