Tesla shares surge on truck plans

Tesla investors pushed the carmaker’s stock to more than $US1000 a share

Tesla investors pushed the carmaker’s stock to more than $US1000 a share on Wednesday, lifting its valuation closer to Toyota’s, after CEO Elon Musk told employees it was time to begin volume production of the company’s long-promised, all-electric semi-trailer truck.

Mr Musk said in a memo to employees it was time to bring out the all-electric Tesla Semi truck without saying where it would be assembled or when.

Battery production for the truck, he wrote, would occur at the company’s battery factory outside of Reno, Nevada.

The overall investor enthusiasm is part of a broader excitement for electric vehicles and a belief that the future of ground transportation may be powered with batteries rather than petrol, even though customers haven’t yet flocked to the technology.

That excitement has helped more than double Tesla’s stock price this year, despite concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic and fears of an extended recession that might dampen demand for new vehicles. Its shares closed at $US1025.05, up 9 per cent on the day, giving it a market value of more than $US190bn.

That puts Tesla’s valuation nearer that of Toyota, which at $US216bn has long been the world’s largest carmaker by market value.