Tesla To Achieve First-quarter Production Record Again, Despite Supply Chain Issues

According to Bloomberg, high fuel prices are basically pushing more and more people into electric mobility; a fact that is greatly benefiting Tesla, which has been working for years on a robust supply chain for all the components that make up its BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) models, a job that is now finally paying off: preliminary data from experts indicates that Tesla would have closed the first quarter of this 2022 with a total of 309,158 units delivered in all its markets, a fact that will allow the company to narrowly exceed the 309,000 units of the last quarter of 2021.

In addition to some very striking numbers that show Tesla being able to register a growth of 67.2% as compared to the first quarter of 2021, deliveries are one of the most observed metrics in Tesla since - among other things - they support the company's financial results and are used as a barometer of consumer demand for electric cars.

These figures could have perfectly been even better, but the Covid outbreaks in China have caused the Giga-Shanghai plant to shut down for several days so far; something that is seen as a potential threat for this second quarter performance, beyond the challenges for the supply chain.

But while the Giga-Shanghai facilities are at risk of reducing their overall contribution, Tesla will be able nonetheless to add, during this second quarter, the units that will come out of the new Giga-Berlin plant, which began production last week, and to which the Giga-Texas factory will also be added, - as it will officially start production in a few days - and all that should finally help Tesla to break its own records throughout this rather complicated year.

It remains to be seen now if this increase in production is associated with an improvement in the quality of the finished product, or if it will continue to be some kind of a roulette where customers will normally find perfect units, while some others might find quality issues here and there, as has already happened (and which, by the way, is perfectly normal even for legacy automakers).

This growth in volume production could also eventually threaten to multiply other unforeseen events, in a dynamic that according to industry experts should be accompanied by a higher level of quality control, since otherwise Tesla may face problems that could potentially lead to a fall from grace in its brand image in a very short time; even though I must say I seriously doubt it could reach that point, given the amazing engineering team Tesla has and the different quality controls it normally applies.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.