What's going on?

Tesla posted a record quarterly profit earlier this week, to absolutely no one�s surprise.

What does this mean?

Tesla�s results were always going to be good after the EV maker announced a record-breaking quarter for deliveries earlier in the month. But they were better than just good: Tesla revealed that it made 87% more from EV sales last quarter than the same time last year. It earned more from each sale too, having upped its average sales price and cut its costs. That helped its profit grow an eye-watering 658% from the same time in 2021. And while Tesla admitted that the shutdown of its Chinese factory might cause problems, it also said its new factories in Berlin and Austin should still allow it to produce 1.5 million vehicles this year. That would beat its long-term year growth target of 50%, so no surprises here either: investors sent its stock up 6%.

Why should I care?

For markets: Credits where credits are due�
Tesla has another money-spinner in its back pocket: selling carbon credits to other carmakers. See, carmakers buy credits to offset their emissions if they�re not going to meet regulatory standards. But since Tesla produces so many more zero-emission vehicles than regulations require, it receives credits from some governments. It�s then able to sell them on, just as it did last quarter: credit sales brought in $679 million in extra revenue � more than twice as much as the quarter before.

Zooming out: Musk is boring.
If you think Musk is just focused on ruling the roads, you�re sorely mistaken: his tunneling startup Boring Co. � which aims to �solve traffic� by building transportation networks in deep underground tunnels � raised nearly $700 million in funding this week, valuing the company at around $6 billion (tweet this). Boring is planning to use the cash to boost hiring, develop new projects, and speed up development of its next-generation tunneling machines.