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Tesla Inc’s new car factories in Texas and Berlin are “losing billions of dollars” as they struggle to increase production because of a shortage of batteries and China port issues, Chief Executive Elon Musk said recently.

“Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. Okay? It’s really like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire,” Musk said in an interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, an official Tesla recognized club, in Austin, Texas, on May 31.

The club divided its interview with Musk into three parts, the last of which was released Wednesday.

Musk said Tesla’s Texas factory produces a “tiny” number of cars because of challenges in boosting production of its new “4680” batteries and as tools to make its conventional 2170 batteries are “stuck in port in China.”

The Shanghai COVID shutdowns in China “were very, very difficult,” he said. The shutdown affected car production not only at Tesla’s Shanghai factory, but also at its California plant, which uses some vehicle parts made in China. read more

Supply constraints and the semiconductor shortage will fester in the auto industry through 2024, consulting firm AlixPartners said at its annual Global Automotive Outlook briefing.

“We see pent-up demand driving sales through it, but it’s a very important distinction from the many that are saying it’s getting better and it’s going to be gone,” Mark Wakefield, co-leader of the automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners, said during the briefing Wednesday. “We’d say it’s getting better, but it’s not going to be gone for the next two years.”

A report presented at the briefing predicted that global vehicle sales would fall to 79 million in 2022 from 80 million last yearbut would rise to 87 million in 2023.

The report also said the automotive industry has made advances in electrification. According to the briefing, the industry has committed $526 billion through 2026 for the transition from gasoline-powered vehicles to electric vehicles. read more

“We want it to be a collaborative process. Our anchors here are the common goals that we share with universities around transportation,” said John Lankford, Spin’s head of campus partnerships.