Tesla’s Elon Musk Is Open To Offering Software And Batteries To Competitors

Tesla Inc.’s (TSLA) billionaire founder Elon Musk said that the electric car maker is “open” to licensing software and and supplying powertrains and batteries to other vehicle makers.

In comments on Twitter, Musk indicated that Tesla would be willing to license autopilot but not share all of its “secret” technology.

“Tesla is open to licensing software and supplying powertrains & batteries,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “We’re just trying to accelerate sustainable energy, not crush competitors!”

Back in 2014, when Mercedes-Benz, owned by Daimler AG, and Toyota were still Tesla partners, they got access to the electric vehicle maker’s battery packs. However, since they exited the partnership the supply ceased.

Musk’s Twitter comments come just days after it was disclosed that Tesla is suing electric startup Rivian for unspecified damages for allegedly stealing trade secrets. Last year, Tesla filed a suit against the recently Amazon-acquired Zoox for stealing confidential documents. Zoox reportedly settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum in April after admitting that four of its employees stole sensitive information from their previous employer, Tesla.

Meanwhile, five-star analyst Daniel Ives at Wedbush is confident that Musk is slated to announce a number of new potential “game changing” battery developments at its highly anticipated Battery Day in Sept.

Ives believes that the technology innovations around the Tesla’s Giga and Fremont factories remain the key for Tesla’s success on the battery front.

“We believe the company is getting closer to announcing the million mile battery,” Ives wrote in a note to investors this month. “This battery technology will be very advanced, potentially last for decades, withstand all types of weather/terrain, and be another major milestone for the Tesla ecosystem.”

“In theory this battery will support an electric vehicle for 1 million miles and be a major step forward when competing vs. traditional gasoline powered automotive competitors from both an ROI and environmental perspective,” he added.

With shares up a stellar 252%, Ives maintained a Hold rating on valuation but boosted his price target to $1,800 (22% upside potential) from $1,250.

The rest of the Street is turning cautiously bearish on the stock with a Moderate Sell analyst consensus. In view of this year’s strong rally, the $1,257.04 average analyst price target now implies 15% downside potential for the shares in the coming 12 months. (See Tesla’s stock analysis on TipRanks)