[Battery Day] Musk: "I Will Make an Electric Car at Half Price Around 29 Million Won"

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

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced plans to introduce an electric vehicle priced at about half the current cost.

At Battery Day held on the 22nd (local time) in the parking lot of Tesla's Fremont factory in California, Musk stated, "We are revolutionizing the production process," adding, "This will enable us to produce an electric vehicle costing only $25,000 (approximately 29 million KRW) in the future."

Musk continued, "We have not yet made affordable cars, but it will be possible in the future," and said, "To achieve this, we are lowering battery prices," adding, "Next-generation batteries will be stronger, longer-lasting, and cost about half of the current price."

As the first step toward this goal, Tesla plans to produce new batteries on a newly established production line at the Fremont factory. The plan is to produce batteries at a scale of 10 gigawatts per hour by the end of next year.

At the same time, Tesla intends to rapidly increase battery production over several years. The company revealed plans to expand production capacity to 3 terawatts per hour, or 3,000 gigawatts, which is 85 times the current production capacity of the Nevada factory.

Drew Bagliano, Senior Vice President of Tesla's Powertrain Energy division, said, "The automation level of Tesla's new battery factory is very high, and we plan to produce using a continuous assembly process."