[Battery Day] Musk's New Experiment... Launching '20 Million Won Electric Car' Within 3 Years

"Introducing a $2,500 Electric Car"
Accelerating Electric Vehicle Popularization through Battery Development
"No Tangible Technology" Disappointment... Stock Price Drops 7% in Over-the-Counter Market

▲Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla [Image source=AP News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The American electric vehicle company Tesla has unveiled an ambitious plan to launch an electric car priced at $25,000 (approximately 29 million KRW) within three years. The company aims to accelerate the popularization of electric vehicles by revolutionizing the battery production process, a core component of EVs. However, Tesla's stock price fell sharply as market expectations for mass production starting in 2022 were not reflected.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others on the 22nd (local time), Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, announced this at the 'Battery Day' event held at the Fremont factory in California, emphasizing that "we will realize electric cars cheaper than internal combustion engine vehicles."

Tesla also announced plans to develop a new cylindrical battery called the '4680.' The intention is to enhance battery performance while reducing costs, ultimately lowering the price of electric vehicles. CEO Musk said, "Truly affordable electric cars have not yet appeared," adding, "Lowering battery prices is key to popularizing electric vehicles." WSJ explained that, using the Model 3 as an example, the selling price would drop from an average of $50,000 to $35,000.

Regarding the 4680 battery, CEO Musk stated, "It will supply five times more energy than current batteries, increase driving range, but cost only half as much." Drew Bagliano, Tesla's Senior Vice President of Energy, also said, "Equipping the improved battery will increase driving range by 54%."

Tesla plans to rapidly increase battery production capacity alongside the development of the new battery. CEO Musk revealed, "We plan to expand production capacity to about 3 terawatts (3,000 gigawatts) per hour." This is 85 times the production capacity of the Nevada factory in the U.S., which produces batteries in partnership with Japan's Panasonic.

Additionally, Tesla is considering recycling battery cells to reduce battery production costs. This could ultimately reduce demand for cobalt, the most expensive material in battery components.

Despite these rosy plans, Tesla's stock price closed down 5.6% at $424.23 on the day. In after-hours trading, it further dropped 6.84% to $395.20. The Battery Day was held alongside the annual shareholders' meeting, but this year’s focus on long-term vision failed to meet shareholders' expectations. Craig Irwin, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners, expressed disappointment, saying, "None of the battery aspects Musk discussed were actionable," adding, "There was nothing tangible."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.