2019 was a very eventful year for Tesla. Let's plunge into the most important of them, in order to recall the path of Tesla this year.
January
Start of construction of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory
Gigafactory 3 - became the first factory of the company outside the United States. Tesla was able to get permission to build it only thanks to amendments to the legislation of the PRC at the beginning of 2018 that allowed foreign companies to own property in the territory of this country.
February
Start of deliveries of Tesla Model 3 in China
February 22 Tesla announced the start of deliveries of Tesla Model 3 electric vehicles to China. Finally, the Chinese got the long-awaited opportunity to own a Model 3.
March
Presentation of Tesla Model Y
March 14 in Los Angeles, the presentation of the Tesla Model Y was held. The long-awaited electric car is a worthy competitor in the segment of compact crossovers. Now we have got a full SEXY series of Tesla cars.
April
Tesla launches a modernized model S and X
In April, Tesla introduced an improved transmission for Model S and X. Tesla increased the range of the Long Range version by about 10-12%. The front axle now uses a permanent magnet electric motor, borrowed from the rear axle of the Tesla Model 3 sedan. And in all-wheel drive Tesla, the front motor is the main one: the rear motor is connected only as needed.
Together with the motor, the inverter and front gearbox were replaced, the lubrication and cooling systems were upgraded, as well as new wheel bearings and lighter tires with a reduced coefficient of rolling resistance.
Both models have changed suspension stiffness: the front has become softer and the rear, on the contrary, stiffer. The adaptive suspension has also been modernized: electronics now in real time tracks a number of indicators, as well as navigation data to determine the inclination of the road. Thanks to this, the steering also became more accurate, and the ground clearance changes not only at a certain speed, but also depending on the coating profile.
Autonomy Investors Day, reveals deep details of Tesla’s in-house designed HW3/FSD computer
May
Made in China Model 3 is available for pre-order
In May, it became possible to pre-order the Model 3 Standard Range Plus which will manufacture in Shanghai Gigafactory.
June
A record high number of deliveries
Between April and June, Tesla delivered 95,356 cars to customers, including 77,634 Model 3 cars. The volume of deliveries was a record for the company. In total, in the first six months of 2019, Tesla delivered approximately 158,200 vehicles to customers.
July
Tesla Model 3 received 5 stars in the safety rating Euro NCAP
Model 3 was awarded five stars in the final round of Euro NCAP safety trials after reaching one of the highest scores ever recorded by the organization. Extensive driver assistance systems in an electric car, including lane-keeping, autonomous emergency braking and speed assistance, helped them publish the best result in the category of safety systems. The electric car also received excellent results in a collision test with a deformable barrier with frontal displacement.
“Tesla Model 3 achieved one of the highest Safety Assist we have ever seen. Its Assist Collision Avist system is first class. Tesla has done a tremendous amount of work by taking advantage of the design advantages of an electric vehicle, ”says Matthew Avery, research director for Thatcham Research.
August
Tesla becomes very popular in Europe
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the World Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Tesla continues to expand its influence on Europe. During the first 7 months, Tesla sold about 49,200 cars in Europe, which means that Tesla's market share in Europe is 27%.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in China, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, and Jack Ma, founder of the Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group, argued about the future of this technology and its impact on humanity.
September
Tesla released the new Tesla V10 Software, and Model S is breaking records
The new update included a number of long-awaited features that definitely impressed all Tesla owners: Arcade, Theater, Karaoke, improved road visualization and automatic strip change, improved Sentry Mode, Joe Mode, a new application launch bar etc..
Tesla Model S received a new modification, which was called Plaid. It has three rows of seats and three motors, which means more power than the top-end version of the Model S P100D today. Tesla Model with in the Nurburgring, drove a 12,4-miles section of the track in a record 7 minutes 23 seconds, while the Porsche Taycan completed this task in 7 minutes 42 seconds.
October
Impressive closing Q3
Gigafactory 3 is built at lightning fast Chinese speed. And in October the Shanghai factory received permission from the Chinese government to start the production of electric vehicles.
Tesla ended the Q3 2019 with a net profit of $143 million. Revenue in the Q3 amounted to $ 6.3 billion. The balance of cash and cash equivalents on accounts increased by 80% compared to the Q3 2018 and amounted to $ 5.3 billion. Free cash flow is $371 million.
The Q3 was a record for the volume of production and supply of cars: Tesla produced 96 thousand and delivered to customers 97 thousand cars.
November
November 7, Tesla announced made in China Model 3 and began trial production of the vehicle.
On November 21, revolutionary Cybertruck was introduced. In just 6 days after the presentation, more than 250k pre-orders were collected. Cybertruck became very desirable among the civilian population and police departments from around the world.
December
On December 29th, Tesla China officially delivered the first batch of made in China Model 3 made in Gigafactory 3. The delivery of Model 3 was mark the beginning of the long journey of Gigafactory 3 as one of the main Tesla production lines in the world. Although this was a small batch of shipments, it was a testament to how far Gigafactory 3 has advanced since the "muddy field" in the first half of 2019.
Tesla launches Trans-Canada Supercharger route, a transcontinental federal-provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada from the Pacific Ocean on the west to the Atlantic Ocean on the east.
2019 was a breakthrough year for Tesla. This breathtaking year was rich in spectacular events for Tesla that would lead the company to a strong 2020.
Featured image: Wired
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
