On Wednesday afternoon, Tesla released its Q2 2017 financial results: a loss of $401 million from total revenues of $2.7 billion over the three months up until June 30th. That's more or less the same performance as the company reported for Q1 2017, but it does show a 49 percent jump in revenue and 53 percent jump in vehicle deliveries compared to the same period in 2016. Depending upon whether Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) were used, the net loss to shareholders was $2.04 per share (GAAP), or $1.33 per share (non-GAAP). It ended the period with $3 billion in cash.

During the quarter, Tesla produced 25,708 Model S and Model X electric vehicles and delivered 22,026 of them to customers. Sales of zero-emissions tax credits brought in another $100 million, and the company's energy generation and storage activities saw a big increase, bringing in $287 million (compared to $214 million for Q1 2017 and just $3.9 million for Q2 2016). The company's operating expenses actually decreased compared to Q1 2017, despite spending almost $48 million more on research and development.

In its earnings statement, Tesla revealed that it has been averaging 1,800 Model 3 reservations a day since the handover of the first production cars on July 28th. First deliveries to non-Tesla employees will begin in Q4 this year. Tesla says that production of the Model 3 will be limited by the slowest part of its supply chain and manufacturing process, but the company is confident it can build "just over 1,500 vehicles in Q3." Output of the new EV is predicted to rise to 5,000 per week by the end of 2017. CEO Elon Musk told an earnings call that "what we have ahead of us is an incredibly difficult production ramp. But I'm very confident we can reach a rate of 10,000 vehicles per week by the end of next year."

For the second half of the year, Tesla expects its prospects to improve significantly with operating costs remaining flat but revenues increasing thanks to Model 3 sales. On the earnings call, Musk was keen to stress that despite the introduction of the Model 3, the much more expensive Model S remains a better vehicle. "The S is still the superior sedan," Musk said. "Things got a little confusing because of the nomenclature—my fault for being too clever for my own good there."

We also received clarification about the Model Y compact SUV. During the Q1 2017 earnings call in May, Musk had said that the Model Y would use a unique platform; now we know that's not the case. "Upon the council of my executive team, the model Y will in fact use substantial carryover from the Model 3 in order to bring it to market faster," he said.

Musk also revealed that he spends much of his time at Tesla working on Autopilot. "I spend a lot of my week working on Autopilot with the team, right down in the trenches," he said. "I think the release that should go out soon, people will be really pleased with it."

With regards to energy systems, for Q2 2017 Tesla deployed 176 MW of solar power and 97MWh of energy storage, although that number includes a 52MWh installation in Hawaii that was actually completed in Q1 but which only recently passed inspection. Additionally, it says that it has begun to install Solar Roof tiles this quarter. "I have it on my house," Musk said, adding that the photos of a Solar Roof in the earnings letter were of his house.

In response to a question about Tesla's capital expenditures, Musk briefly discussed plans to build several more Gigafactories, not all of which will be in the US. "We expect to keep the majority of our production in the US, but it obviously makes sense to establish a Gigafactory in China and Europe to serve the markets there because it's nuts to build cars in California and then ship them halfway around the world," Musk said. "We want our cars to be as affordable as possible." Announcements on those locations are expected by year's end, but Musk said that the associated costs of building the new Gigafactories was still a way off.