How Tesla lost some of its biggest fans Net income fell to $1.17 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the second quarter, from $1.4 billion, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier. In its shareholder deck, Tesla said it began its "first builds of a more affordable model in June, with volume production planned for the second half of 2025." Tesla has to this point put off the production of a less pricey "model 2" EV. Meanwhile, other automakers are now offering a greater variety of vehicles, and China-based competitors are selling affordable EVs with high-tech self-driving features as a standard rather than premium option. Musk has tried to keep fans and investors focused on Tesla's future, which he envisions as being dominated by the company's robotaxis and humanoid Optimus robots. Musk has said Tesla's robotaxis could work for their owners, making them money while they sleep. Optimus robots, he has said, will be so sophisticated that they can serve as factory workers or babysitters. In June, Tesla began testing a robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, which operates in a limited area with a human valet on board. The service is accessible only to select riders, generally Tesla and Musk enthusiasts. "We will further improve and expand the service (more vehicles covering a larger area, eventually without a safety rider) while testing in other U.S. cities in anticipation of additional launches," Tesla said in the shareholder deck, reiterating prior statements. The company is significantly behind Alphabet's Waymo, which has commercial robotaxi services that are open to the public running in several U.S. markets, including Austin. Musk, who has missed self-imposed deadlines around self-driving technology for more than a decade, said Wednesday that Tesla's goal is to have autonomous ridehailing available to about half the U.S. population by the end of this year, "subject to regulatory approvals." "I think we'll technically be able to do it," he said. On the company's earnings call a year ago, Musk said he didn't foresee regulatory hurdles to a broad rollout out of Tesla's self-driving technology in the U.S. and beyond. In Tesla's services and other segment, which includes revenue from its EV charging stations, gross profit rose 17% year over year. Tesla said it was driven by "improved Supercharging gross profit generation from increased volume," and said it has added more than 2,900 net new Supercharging stalls, an 18% increase from a year earlier. The company boasts 7,377 Supercharger stations in its charging network. Tesla's digital assets are now worth $1.24 billion, according to the shareholder update, up from $722 million a year ago.