Tesla will build an electric van eventually, Elon Musk says
But not in the near future, thanks to battery cell constraints.
Tesla won't be getting in on the wave of interest in electric vans and cargo vehicles anytime soon.
Electric vans and last-mile delivery vehicles have been a relatively hot topic as of late, and we expect they'll only get hotter in light of President Biden's decision to make the whole US government vehicle fleet electric. A big part of that announcement was the move to source the vehicles from an American manufacturer, and we've seen GM, Rivian and Ford all come up with electric van solutions. But what about Tesla? After all, Tesla is the biggest EV company on the planet, and it's based in the US. Seems like it's meant to be.
During Tesla's fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk popped that particular balloon when an institutional investor brought it up. When asked if Tesla would follow up on previous statements that it would build an electric van, Musk shot it down -- for the time being.
Musk confirmed that Tesla will eventually get around to making an electric van, but that cell production is holding that up -- along with the Tesla Semi and any number of other projects. Tesla is working with its battery partners and on its own battery production facility in order to increase the number of available cells, but for now, that remains the bottleneck.
Will the company change its tune and redirect its resources again, much like it did with Powerwall production during Model 3 ramp? Guess we'll find out once the Federal contracts start going out.
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