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Tesla’s deliveries fall due to China’s COVID shutdown 

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) delivered 17.9% fewer electric vehicles in the second quarter from the previous quarter, as China’s COVID 19-related shutdown disrupted its production and supply chain.
The world’s biggest electric car maker said that it delivered 254,695 vehicles in the April to June period, compared with 310,048 vehicles in the preceding quarter, ending a nearly two-year-long run of record quarterly deliveries.
A resurgence in COVID-19 cases in China had forced Tesla to temporarily suspend production at its Shanghai factory and also affected suppliers’ facilities in the country.
Tesla is ramping up production at the Shanghai factory with the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown, which will help boost deliveries in the second half.
Early in June, Ch

ief Executive Officer Elon Musk told executives that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and needed to cut about 10% of staff at the electric car maker.
Musk has said demand for Tesla vehicles remains strong, but supply-chain challenges remain.
In June, Tesla again hiked prices for some of its models in the United States and China after Musk had warned of significant inflationary pressure on raw materials and logistics.June 2022 was the highest vehicle production month in the company’s history, Tesla said in a news release.
Analysts had expected Tesla to report deliveries of 295,078 vehicles for the April to June period, according to Refinitiv data. Several analysts had slashed their estimates further to about 250,000 due to China’s prolonged lockdown.
The world’s most valuable automaker has posted record deliveries every quarter since the third quarter of 2020, weathering pandemic and supply-chain disruptions better than most automakers.
China has been instrumental in Tesla’s rapid increase in vehicle production, with the low-cost, lucrative Shanghai factory producing roughly half of the company’s total cars delivered last year.
Musk said in April that Tesla’s overall vehicle production in the second quarter would be “roughly on par” with the first quarter, driven by a China rebound.
But he recently said Tesla had a “very tough quarter,” citing production and supply-chain challenges in China. Musk also said Tesla’s new factories in Texas and Berlin are “gigantic money furnaces” losing billions of dollars as they struggle to increase production quickly.
Tesla shares have fallen 35% so far this year, hit by Musk’s $44 billion proposed acquisition of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), the China lockdown, and macroeconomic uncertainties.

Source: Reuters

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China and Russia to launch 6 lunar missions in 2021-2025 to build international Moon base

“THE MISSIONS WILL USE CHINESE CZ-3B AND CZ-5 LAUNCH VEHICLES & RUSSIAN SOYUZ-2”

BEIJING: China and Russia are planning to launch six missions within the preparatory stage of building an international Moon base, Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Centre of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), said during the GLEX-2021 conference.

According to the presentation, the first investigative stage will last from 2021 to 2025.
China plans to send three missions within this period: Chang’e 4, Chang’e 6 and Chang’e 7. Russia plans to launch an automatic station “Luna 25,” lunar polar orbiter “Luna 26” and lunar lander “Luna 27”. The missions will use Chinese CZ-3B and CZ-5 launch vehicles, as well as Russia’s Soyuz-2.

The goal of this stage is to choose an area for constructing a station and to develop the technology for a highly accurate soft landing on the Moon. According to the presentation, China and Russia have not ruled out “launching potential missions of other partners”.

On March 9, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that they had signed a memorandum of mutual understanding on behalf of their governments on cooperation in creating an international scientific lunar station. Russia and China are planning to use their joint experience and scientific technologies to create a roadmap for building a station on the Moon. Bilateral cooperation in this sphere envisages both studying the lunar surface and implementing joint projects in the orbit of the Earth’s natural satellite.