Tesla has missed its first quarter target of producing 2,500 Model 3 vehicles a week, the company announced today, a goal it planned to hit by the end of 2017 but was delayed due to production issues. But the market viewed the number it did produce — a peak of 2,020 Model 3s a week — as a buying signal: Tesla's share price, down 27% over the last month after a series of bad news including a fatal accident, was up almost 5% in early trading.
Why it matters: "It’s a move reminiscent of Tesla’s last vehicle launch — the Model X — when Musk famously kept a sleeping bag near the production line so he could immediately address any hiccups. ... The posts ... came as investors await Tesla’s first-quarter production numbers, which are expected to fall short of the company’s forecasts."
Two storylines are converging that could bring headwinds for the growth of U.S. electric vehicles: EPA's regulatory rollbacks and Tesla's rough patch. But whether they're ultimately strong gusts or merely light breezes is hard to know yet.
Why it matters: Environmentalists fear the EPA efforts could slow the transition to a cleaner vehicle mix at a time when carbon emissions from the transportation sector have become the top source of U.S. carbon dioxide output. This comes as Tesla is set to release data showing how short it's falling on producing the mass market Model 3 electric sedan, a car that could be important to the wider expansion of EVs on U.S. roads.
Michelle Edkins, BlackRock’s global head of investment stewardship, is a key figure in this spring’s annual shareholder meetings with publicly owned companies where climate change is expected to be featured prominently. I talked with Edkins for my latest Harder Line column on the topic.
Why she matters: BlackRock is the world’s largest investment firm, and Edkins was mentioned in a letterBlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink sent earlier this year to companies imploring them to drive sustainable long-term growth, which includes a focus on climate.
Tesla shares have dropped 7% amid scrutiny from a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into a fatal March 23 crash involving one of its cars in semiautonomous Autopilot mode, reports CNBC. The drop also comes amid a voluntary recall of its Model S cars because of a faulty power steering component.
The state of play: The company will report deliveries of its entry-level Model 3 this week, per Fortune, which will once against test the company's stock price. Elon Musk told Tesla employees today that the company will miss its production goals for the Model 3 in the first quarter of 2018, per Jalopnik.
A new twist is unfolding in the fight between activist investors and the oil industry: an unprecedented move by federal regulators allowing a major producer to preemptively kill a shareholder resolution on climate change without a vote.
Why it matters: The Securities and Exchange Commission’s support of oil producer EOG Resources is emerging as a flashpoint in what has become America’s central battleground over climate change: what investors do about it. It’s an arcane fight, but a consequential one too, because PresidentTrump is reversing course on climate policy.
New Gallup polling finds that 25% of American adults are greatly concerned about energy prices and access, which is the lowest level — albeit by a hair — in 18 years of their polling on the question. The same survey, conducted early last month, shows that 59% of respondents prioritize environmental protection over fossil fuel development.
Why it matters: The Gallup data underscores how energy prices — which are low these days thanks partially to the U.S. oil-and-gas surge — influence public perception.
