Tesla boss Elon Musk said he will not sell shares in the electric vehicle maker for the next 18-24 months as he denied being distracted by his involvement with social media platform Twitter.
Musk warned that he thought there would be a “serious recession” in 2023 and demand for ‘big-ticket items’ such as a new car will be lower.
His comments came after Tesla shares fell further in value over worries about falling demand for electric cars and investor concern about his distraction with Twitter and his own share sales. Musk has sold almost $40bn (£33bn) of his own shares which experts say has contributed to Tesla shares sliding to their lowest since September 2020.
Tesla shares are on track for their worst month ever losing almost 10 per cent of their value on Thursday alone after it emerged it was offering $7,500 (£6,200) discounts on its most popular electric vehicles delivered in the United States this month.
To add to his problems and those of his investors problems it was revealed that US Senators are investigating whether car makers including Tesla and General Motors are using parts and materials made with forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region.
The powerful US Senate Finance committee has written to the chief executives of eight car manufacturers including Elon Musk requesting they provide detailed information on their supply chains to help determine any links to Xinjiang, where the US government has alleged the use of forced labour involving the Uyghur minority ethnic community and others.
US law assumes that goods from China’s Xinjiang region are presumed to be made with forced labour and barred by US Customs from entering the US market unless companies can demonstrate forced labour was not used in production.
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Musk denied he was preoccupied with problems at Twitter to the exclusion of Tesla. “I was back in Austin[Texas] just last week. There is literally not a single important Tesla meeting I have missed this entire time. I’m not MIA [missing in action].”
He said he had no plans to sell any more Tesla stock until around 2025. “I’m not selling any stock for another 18-24 months. Not until around 2025. I needed to sell. I’m not selling any stock until probably two years from now… I’m somewhat paranoid after going through two recessions.”
Musk said he believed Tesla would endure a recession better than any company. “I think Tesla will weather an upcoming economic storm better than any company. Unless the company is making bread. If you are a ship in the storm, even if you have a great ship, you are still going to be hit.”
Tesla is building a lithium refinery in Texas to relieve a “choke point” in battery production he said. “Seven years to build a refinery is insane. We are aiming to have meaningful volume out the factory in two years,” he added.
He said Tesla was close to revealing where it planned to build its next battery Gigafactory.
“We are being careful and deliberate about that. We are coming into recession in a strong position.”
“The overarching purpose is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. Energy generation, storage of that energy, and electric transport. We are working on all three. The demand for large batteries is quasi-infinite. So long a Tesla battery pack is cheaper than a peaker plant [ US power stations which usually only run when there is high demand for electricity], there will be insatiable demand.”
“1000+ GWh battery packs a year, if not 2000, is the goal. Master plan part 3 is really about scale. One should think of things in terms of tonnage. The fundamental rate limiter is how many gigawatt hours per year of battery packs can we make?”
Musk said he stood by his prediction that Tesla will be the most valuable company in the world.
