2024-04-17
13 分钟The Economist Hello, Alok Jha here.
I host Babbage, our science and tech podcast.
Welcome to Editors' Picks.
Here's an article handpicked from the latest edition of The Economist, read aloud.
I thought you might enjoy it.
In recent months, Teslos had a bumpy ride.
In January,
the electric vehicle or EV Pioneer warned that growth would be notably lower this year,
as motorists' enthusiasm for battery power loses charge.
The same month,
it had to suspend most production at its giant factory near Berlin because of supply disruptions caused by turmoil in the Red Sea.
Its market share in China, the world's biggest EV market,
is falling as it fends off cheaper local competition,
especially from BYD,
which late last year briefly eclipsed Tesla as the world's biggest EV maker.
Tesla hit another big pothole on April 2nd when it reported that it had delivered fewer than 390,000 cars in the first quarter.
That was down by 8.5% from a year ago and considerably worse than already cautious Wall Street analysts were expecting.
Tesla's market value has slumped by a third this year to less than $550 billion.
That is still more than any other carmaker,
but less than half of the $1.2 trillion it was worth in 2021.