Gary Zhou 
Tesla is confident that it will be able to begin Model S Plaid production in the second quarter and Model X Plaid production in the third quarter, despite some difficulties in the first quarter. Model S Plaid deliveries are expected to begin next month, with Model X Plaid deliveries expected in Q3.
In the coming quarter, Tesla plans to manufacture 2,000 Model S and Model X Plaid vehicles per week. Depending on the global supply chain issues Tesla is facing, it may plan to manufacture as many as 2,400 or 2,500 Plaid vehicles.
During Tesla’s latest earnings call, Elon Musk discussed some of the obstacles the company has encountered. He listed Tesla’s severe supply chain shortages in the first quarter. Apart from the chip shortage, which has impacted most automakers, Musk also mentioned issues with the parts supply chain.
Tesla also struggled to scale and drive production in China due to COVID quarantine restrictions, which prevented it from hiring crucial engineers. As a result, Giga Nevada was supplying all of the company’s production needs with drive units. Tesla seems to have largely resolved the problem as of this publication.
Tesla had manufacturing issues with the Model S and Model X Plaid as well.
“So with respect to the Model S and X, there were more challenges than expected in developing the Model S or what we call the Palladium program, which is the new version of Model S and X, which has revised interior and new battery pack and new drive units and new internal electronics and has, for example, a PlayStation 5 level infotainment system,” said Elon Musk.
One of the more notable challenges Tesla seemed to face with Model S Plaid production was its battery pack. According to Elon Musk, it was hard to ensure that “the new factory” was safe because Tesla was packing more energy into a smaller case.
Musk explained, “So it took quite a bit of development to ensure that the battery of the new S/X is safe.” He went on to say that Tesla was fine-tuning the cars it had already designed in recent months.
