(ORDO NEWS) — Previously, Tesla has seriously increased the prices of its lithium energy storage and electric vehicles. What is happening can significantly reduce the pace of development of entire industries.
The company has notified Starlink global satellite Internet users that from March 22, they will pay $110 per month instead of $99 per month.
The cost of the Starlink terminal has risen from $499 to $599. This is probably not the last increase: what is happening in Ukraine has caused systemic disruptions in international trade, which is why the cost of a wide variety of components continues to rise.
Somewhat earlier, the company raised prices for Falcon 9 launches from $62 million to $67 million, and Falcon Heavy from $90 million to $97 million. In both cases, the increase is close to 8%. In addition, inflation in the United States as of March 10, 2022 was 7.9%, a maximum for 40 years.
SpaceX‘s prices for the launch of passing cargo on its rockets have also increased. If earlier launching a load of up to 200 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit cost only 1.0 million dollars, now it costs 1.1 million.
Recently, inflation has seriously hit another Elon Musk business – Tesla. The company raised the price of the Megapack, the world‘s cheapest convenient energy storage device today, from $1.1 million to $1.538 million. The reasons are a multiple rise in prices for lithium and some other metals in recent months.
In addition, Tesla has increased the prices of its electric vehicles. Now the cheapest of them will cost from 47 thousand dollars, while a couple of years ago it (when ordered by phone) could be purchased for at least 35 thousand. Six months ago, it cost 10% cheaper than today.
What is happening will affect the speed of introduction of new technologies in a number of industries. If the Falcon 9 does not threaten Musk by competitors, then the further distribution of Starlink will be in question. For American and European conventional (terrestrial) providers, the costs practically did not increase.
If they don’t raise prices for their services, Starlink will be noticeably more expensive than competitors (on the order of a couple of thousand dollars a year in the first 12 months of ownership).
Meanwhile, Elon Musk planned to raise funds for flights to Mars, mainly from the proceeds from the Starlink project. How to do this in conditions of weak price competitiveness is not entirely clear. Probably the richest man in the world will have to find another way.
Rising prices for Megapack, in turn, will slow down the increase in the share of WPPs and SPPs in a number of countries: without storage or insurance in the form of thermal power plants, these types of stations can hardly provide a stable energy supply.
The rise in the cost of electric vehicles also means a slower growth in the production of Tesla cars. The company plans to produce 20 million of them a year – twice as many as any modern leader company.
However, now penetration into the most massive segment of the car market may be delayed. This is unfortunate because, as we wrote earlier, ICE vehicles are killing a lot of people around the world with exhaust emissions, and even an electric car charging from a thermal power plant is much safer in this sense.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.