Everything Tesla promises to accomplish by 2020

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Reuters

Elon Musk's plans for Tesla Motors over the the next four years are nothing short of ambitious.

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Among other things, Musk has promised to dramatically increase car production, launch one (or possibly two) completely new cars, and conquer self-driving vehicles. 

Here’s a closer look at what exactly Musk has promised Tesla will accomplish by 2020. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Complete its giant Gigafactory.

tesla gigafactory
Tesla Motors

Elon Musk’s giant battery factory in Nevada is absolutely key to the company’s future because it will help the company cut the cost of its batteries.

The Gigafactory, which is some 5.5 million square feet, will help the company dramatically cut the cost of its batteries by “using economies of scale, innovative manufacturing, reduction of waste, and the simple optimization of locating most manufacturing process under one roof.”

Tesla estimates the factory will help it reduce the cost of its batteries by as much as 30% once it is fully operational in 2020.

In fact, Tesla said it will create more battery cells at the Gigafactory than all of the lithium-ion battery makers combined in 2013.

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Bring the Model 3 into production and possibly a Model Y by 2017.

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AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

The batteries created at the Gigafactory will enable the company to produce its first mass market car, the Model 3.

The Model 3 will be priced at about $35,000 and have a range of more than 200 miles per charge, Musk said earlier this year.

In September, Musk said Tesla plans to begin production of the Model 3 in 2017. A few weeks later he also said via Twitter that the company would also be revealing a Model Y, which is rumored to be a crossover version of the Model 3, but then he deleted the tweet.

So it’s possible Tesla could be pushing out two new vehicles before 2020.

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Increase range to 1,000 kilometers per charge in three years.

Tesla Drive
Matthew DeBord/Business Insider

Tesla’s cars already boast the best range on the market, but by 2017 Musk aims to dramatically increase how far Tesla’s cars travel on a single charge.

“The record right now for the Model S is 800 kilometers (497 miles), that is the furthest that anyone has driven a Model S… we are pretty close,” Musk told the Danish news site Borsen in September. “My guess is probably we could break a 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) within a year or two. I’d say 2017 for sure.” 

Musk added that by 2020 Tesla will likely be able to make its cars go as far as 745 miles per charge.

It should be noted that while the record for hypermiling in a Tesla is almost  500 miles, the official range of Tesla’s Model S is about 265 miles per charge, according to ratings by the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Bring its car to full autonomy by 2018.

Tesla Model S Autopilot
Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

Another bold promise Musk has made for Tesla is that its cars will be autonomous by 2018. And it seems to be on track to make that happen.

The company rolled out its semi-autonomous Autopilot system at the end of October and in November Musk said he was ramping up the team developing the technology and that Autopilot is a “super high priority.”

Most recently, Musk said this week that he is still looking at a two-year timeline to achieve “level 4” autonomy in Tesla’s cars, however, he added that while the technology may be there, the user may not get full access to it.

Musk said it’s unlikely regulators will have laws in place by the time Tesla’s  autonomous cars are ready, so drivers may have to wait a little longer before getting to go completely hands-free. 

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Create 500,000 cars per year by 2020.

Tesla Factory
Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

Tesla will make about 50,000 vehicles in 2015, but it’s aiming to be producing no less than 500,000 by 2020. That means it will have to increase production 10-fold in just four years.

While it's no doubt an ambitious plan, Musk is pretty confident the company can achieve such aggressive growth. 

In November during the Baron Funds investor conference, Musk said that he's not ruling out Tesla one day becoming larger than auto giants like General Motors, Volkswagen, and Toyota.

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