Tesla CEO Elon Musk doesn’t seem to feel threatened by Ford and GM. In fact they may be seen as clients.
The two vintage automakers recently announced that, starting early next year, owners of their electric cars will be able to use Tesla Supercharger stations. That could encourage some customers who might otherwise buy a Tesla to buy a Ford or GM EV instead.
But Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives sees something bigger at play. He believes that Tesla is just beginning to sell access to its infrastructure and technology, and that the “AWS moment” is at hand.
AWS stands for Amazon Web Services, which has turned from a risky bet into a massive success for Amazon. What is today a dominant cloud computing platform basically started as an internal cloud that the online retailer built for itself out of necessity. Selling access to the infrastructure it had developed turned out to be a genius business move for Amazon, surprising the company and outside parties alike with its success — and making then-CEO Jeff Bezos Even richer.
Today, Tesla has infrastructure and technology that was also developed for its own use that legacy automakers can benefit from as well.
“I think this is just the first step,” Ives said he told CNBC Friday. “It starts with Superchargers, and eventually, I think the next step could be battery technology. I think that’s the golden goose now is that they’ve built the castle (and they’re) waiting for others to connect.” He noted that Ford CEO Jim Farley and GM CEO Mary Barra made the call.
On the possibility that access to the Supercharger could help GM and Ford sell more electric cars, Ives suggested that’s just fine with Tesla: “My point is that Musk Need GM and Ford will actually succeed in terms of the broader electric vehicle vision, in terms of adoption only in the United States.”
This week, Musk chirp that Tesla “aspires to be as useful as possible to other car companies” and “enables other companies to use our Supercharger network. I would also be happy to license Autopilot/FSD (Full Self-Driving) or other Tesla technology.”
Ives said Tesla could generate billions from its charging partnerships with Ford and GM in the coming years, and he believes the company is just beginning to generate that kind of service revenue. He referred to the two automakers as early “ambassadors” for Tesla’s plan to grant access to its technology.
Piper Sandler estimated in a research note that Tesla could add more than $3 billion in freight revenue from non-Tesla owners by 2030 and $5.4 billion by 2032.
This federal revenue and incentive will also help Tesla expand its charging network.
Tesla shares are up 126% so far, helping Musk regain the title of the richest person in the world.
“From batteries to superchargers to storage — the sum of the parts thesis is now, I think, in the early stages of playing with investors,” Ives said.