Tesla is booked for a record month and quarter of electric vehicle sales as it continues the launch of the Model Y crossover and restarts volume imports of the Model 3 sedan.
In July, the electric vehicle maker delivered just four cars to local drivers as exports from Shanghai ground to a halt due to Covid lockdowns and an assembly line upgrade. By the end of August you will have sent at least 2,000 times that amount, possibly more.
The electric vehicle maker began delivering the Model Y to customers in early August, after a relatively short two-month wait from the opening of its order page.
It was also able to start shipping more Model 3s again, in an attempt to clear a massive backlog of orders. The Driven understands that some Model 3 customers have been waiting for orders placed since January.
It seems that these customers, if they have not yet received their vehicle, will not have to wait much longer.
Tesla’s seventh ship arrives at Port Kembla
Tesla’s Vedaprime shipment tracker (its Twitter account) reports that the seventh ship with Tesla electric cars on board arrived in Port Kembla on Sunday. This is a record number of ships so far this quarter, he said in a tweet.
“the seventh australian #Tesla The ship for this term Paglia has arrived at Port Kembla this morning. Many thousands of Teslas have arrived in Australia this quarter. Records have been broken,” he tweeted.
the seventh australian #Tesla The ship for this term Paglia has arrived at Port Kembla this morning.
Many thousands of Teslas have arrived in Australia this quarter. Records have been broken.
stock image pic.twitter.com/cUVzoctUbZ
— VedaPrime (@VedaPrime) August 28, 2022
While Tesla’s official sales (ie deliveries) figures for the month will be released in the coming days, it’s unlikely that all the cars shipped in August won’t be delivered in that month alone.
However, The Driven estimates that Tesla will report at least 10,000 sales in the quarter to Vfacts, most of which were shipped in August.
If this proves true, it means that Tesla is on track to achieve a record quarter for any automaker delivering electric cars, and could easily have delivered more than half of the roughly 17,000 electric vehicles sold industry-wide in all of 2021.
While it is still unknown how many more ships Tesla has planned for Australian deliveries, The Driven understands that few if any cars for the local market have been built at the electric vehicle maker’s Shanghai plant in recent weeks.
Instead, the vehicles were made for export to Europe as Tesla’s factory in Berlin continues to ramp up production.
Japan’s Model Y market goes online
Meanwhile, Tesla has now started Model Y deliveries in Japan as well. What this also means for Australia is that there will be more competition for export production in Shanghai.
A new video shared on Twitter by “aautomotive industry investment manager” Membo shows a video of numerous Model Y cars being unloaded from a cargo ship. Although the port is not identified, the poster says that this is the first shipment from Shanghai to Japan.
China-based Tesla tracker WuWa also reports that Tesla’s exports for the quarter are coming to an end.
And much more expired clip for those who prefer it. Hundreds of #ModelY !! pic.twitter.com/2HnPgVcEH4
— Membo (@Membo1003) August 29, 2022
Bridie Schmidt is an associate editor at The Driven, sister site to Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018 and has a keen interest in the role zero-emission transport has to play in sustainability. She has been featured on podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is a co-organizer of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for rent on evee.com.au.
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