July 26 (Xinhua) — Electric car maker Tesla will increase spending by $1 billion this year to expand factories, develop new batteries and fund other projects, the company said in a newly filed regulatory filing on Monday, local time in the United States. In the filing, Tesla expects capital spending to reach $6 billion to $8 billion in 2022, up from $5 billion to $7 billion forecast in April.
Tesla disclosed several new pieces of information in its quarterly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and this increased spending is just one of them. The company also said it is under closer scrutiny by the SEC and that it lost $170 million on its investment in bitcoin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently complained that new factories in Berlin, Germany, and Texas, U.S., were having start-up problems, calling them “money melting pots” that were running out of resources and not producing enough cars.
Amid what Musk called “supply chain hell,” Tesla’s second-quarter profits and deliveries were down from the first quarter, which could be a huge setback for a company that dominates the fast-growing electric car market. The increase in capital spending suggests that getting the new Berlin and Texas factories up and running is costing more than expected.
In its quarterly earnings report, Tesla also disclosed that the company received a second SEC subpoena requesting information about the company’s compliance with the agreement reached in 2018 to settle securities fraud charges.
The subpoena is a twist in a long-running dispute between Musk and the SEC, which in 2018 accused Musk of misleading investors when he tweeted that he had the money ready to buy the company from shareholders. But in reality, he did not receive “funding guarantees” and the deal never happened.
To settle the securities fraud charges, Musk agreed to have company lawyers review some of his social media posts in advance. In April, a federal judge in New York rejected Musk’s attempt to overturn the agreement.
The documents also show that Musk’s fascination with cryptocurrencies has cost Tesla dearly, including a loss of $170 million. But Musk said last week that he still believes in the potential of cryptocurrencies and that selling some of them “should not be seen as some sort of ruling against Bitcoin,” except that Tesla needs the cash.
