Tesla is the largest automobile brand based on market cap. The company has continued to increase its investment in research and development. In fiscal 2022, Tesla invested $3,075 million in R&D compared to $2.593 million in 2021. Tesla also experienced a sharp increase of 51% in its total net revenue in 2022 compared to the prior year.
Research and development expenses of Tesla 2006-2022
Amounts are in millions.
| Year | R&D Costs (Millions) |
| 2022 | $3,075 |
| 2021 | $2,593 |
| 2020 | $1,491 |
| 2019 | $1,343 |
| 2018 | $1460.4 |
| 2017 | $1378.1 |
| 2016 | $834.4 |
| 2015 | $717.9 |
| 2014 | $464.7 |
| 2013 | $232 |
| 2012 | $274 |
| 2011 | $209 |
| 2010 | $93 |
| 2009 | $19.3 |
| 2008 | $53.7 |
| 2007 | $62.8 |
| 2006 | $25 |
FY 2021: 2021 was financially an excellent year for Tesla. The company experienced 71% growth in its net revenues in 2021 compared to the previous year. It also increased its investment in research and development expenses in 2021 compared to the last year. The company spent $2,593 million on research and development in 2021 compared to $1,491 million in 2020.
The research and development expenses of Tesla grew to $1.5 billion from $1.34 billion in 2019.
Tesla is an innovative brand of automobiles and energy generation and storage products. The company places heavy focus on research and development. Every year, the brand invests a large sum in R&D.
In Fy 2019, the research and development expenses of Tesla were $1.34 billion, down from $1.5 billion in 2018.
In FY 2018, Tesla’s R&D expenses grew to $1.5 Billion from $1.4 Billion in 2017.
About Tesla:
Tesla is a renowned global brand of electric vehicles. It was founded in the year 2003. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. Apart from automobiles, Tesla also sells energy generation and storage systems. The automobile product range of Tesla includes Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X, Cybertruck, Tesla Semi and a new Tesla Roadster. The company is led by its CEO Elon Musk. In 2019, Tesla delivered around 367,500 vehicles.
Tesla’s R& D expenses in 2017 stood at 1.38 billions which was more than 5 times that in 2011. In 2012 its R&D expenses were only 273 millions. For both 2017 and 2016, Tesla’s R&D expenses were 12% of the entire revenue whereas in 2015, it was 18% of the entire revenue. The Research and development (“R&D”) expenses include the personnel costs of its engineering and research teams, manufacturing engineering and manufacturing test organizations, prototyping expense, contract and professional services and amortized equipment expense. Compared to 2016, there was an increase of $543.7 million or 65% in 2017 in Tesla’s spending on R&D. This increase was mainly because of increase in employee and labor related expenses in R&D department. The employee and labor related expenses increased by $274.9 million. Headcount increased because of the expansion of automotive and energy generation and storage businesses. There was an increase of $44.3 million in stock based compensation expense because of increased headcount. Moreover, facility expenses and professional and outside expenses supporting the development of future products also led to increase in R& D costs. Overall, Tesla has continued to make very large investments in R&D for the development of more efficient and safer automotives as well as better energy generation and storage products.