Elon Musk Predicts Tesla Will Manufacture 20 Million Cars a Year by 2030

Tesla will "probably" produce 20 million electric vehicles a year before 2030, the company's CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter.

Musk's comment was in response to another post highlighting his previous assertion that the electric vehicle market would produce more than 30 million new vehicles annually within the same time frame.

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'Consistently excellent execution'

In his tweet, Musk did pose one caveat: reaching a 20 million electric vehicle a year production capacity would require "consistently excellent execution."

As Business Insider points out, that figure is more than 50 times the 365,000 electric vehicles Tesla made in 2019. The company sold 367,500 vehicles in the same year, which was a 50 percent increase over the previous year.

Elon just confirmed 30M a year BEFORE 2030 $TSLA https://t.co/ezku8V2LC8

— TeslaVibes?? (@teslavibes) September 28, 2020

In the quarter finishing in December 2019, Tesla also achieved record production of almost 105,000 vehicles.

Musk's predictions come amidst plans from governments worldwide to boost electric vehicle uptake and to increase charging infrastructures. The Tesla CEO also said that his prediction could come true in five years instead of in seven, though that was "possible, but unlikely."

A rallying call to Tesla employees

As Business Insider reports, Elon Musk emailed a rallying call to all of the electric vehicle company's staff last week explaining that they were on course to post a record quarter for the three months to September.

Tesla's sales were predictably hit by the pandemic as they dropped 15% in the first half of 2020 compared to the second half of 2019. The company will have to increase its sales by more than 20,000 over the previous quarter in order to set a new record.

Tesla's much-hyped "Battery Day" also took place last week. At the event, Elon Musk unveiled battery improvements that will make manufacturing cheaper and will also provide more power. A new, fully autonomous, cheaper Tesla car priced at $25,000 was also unveiled at the show.