Tesla CEO Elon Musk has highlighted Renesas and Bosch as the two main suppliers putting the automaker in “extreme supply chain limitations.”
Earlier today, Cathie Wood, a Tesla investor, was trying to explain Tesla’s July numbers in China.
As we reported yesterday, Tesla’s first month of every quarter in China is focused on producing vehicles for exportation.
The results were that Tesla delivered 8,998 vehicles in China in July, but it also exported over 20,000 electric vehicles produced out of Gigafactory Shanghai for a total output of 32,968 vehicles in July.
In comments on Wood’s explanation, Musk confirmed that Tesla focuses on exportation in China early in the quarter, but the CEO added that the automaker is still facing “extreme supply chain limitations.”
He specifically singled out Renesas and Bosch as “the most problematic by far”:
“Tesla makes cars for export in the first half of quarter and for local market in the second half. As publicly disclosed, we are operating under extreme supply chain limitations regarding certain “standard” automotive chips. Most problematic by far are Renesas & Bosch.”
While the CEO has often commented about Tesla facing challenges due to the chip shortage in recent months, it’s the first time that the automaker is singling out specific suppliers.
Bosch is a major automotive supplier, especially when it comes to electronics.
Renesas is a semiconductor and microcontroller manufacturer.
Earlier this year, Tesla said that it pivoted to using more microcontrollers in order to avoid the brunt of the chip shortage:
“In Q1, we were able to navigate through global chip supply shortage issues in part by pivoting extremely quickly to new microcontrollers, while simultaneously developing firmware for new chips made by new suppliers.”
When using new chips and microcontrollers, Tesla has to rewrite the firmware to adapt to the new hardware.
Electrek‘s take
I am repeating myself, but I think many need to reduce their expectations about Tesla’s growth this year.
I still see Tesla believing in the 1 million delivery goal in 2021, but it would require a significant ramp-up in production in the second half of the year that I just don’t see happening at this point.
Right now, I think the best-case scenario is for Tesla to set up Model Y at Gigafactory Berlin and Texas for a smooth production ramp-up next year when hopefully the chip shortage starts to be less significant.
In the meantime, there are still some opportunities for growth, but the bulk of it will likely come next year.
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