Tesla could need another $6 billion to really change the auto landscape

Telsa Motors has some big plans. The electric car company is building its $5-billion Gigafactory near Reno, NV to guarantee a steady supply of lower-cost batteries, has plans to release two new models and is even talking about providing home energy storage on a large scale. The California automaker is ramping up EV production, and hopes to eventually be producing 500,000 cars per year. To do all this, Tesla is going to need a lot of cash, particularly if any of its cars becomes the "next big thing," so to speak.

This is money Tesla would need in addition to the revenues it already pulls in.

Patrick Archambault, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said last week that Tesla could need at least $6 billion through 2025 to complete all of the plans listed above and any others, should Tesla become the automotive Apple. An increase in popularity that would see the company hit its production targets would create a need for capital to match that growth. Keep in mind, this is money it would need in addition to the revenues it already pulls in.

Tesla has already secured a portion of the funds for its Gigafactory, but still needs to make up the rest. Some will come from its partner Panasonic and Tesla is receiving some serious tax incentives from the state of Nevada (to the tune of $1.2 billion). Archmabault predicts that most of the funds would be needed beginning in 2017, suggesting that Tesla has the financial means to reach its target of 100,000 vehicles by the end of next year. It's not until the Model III comes into play that Tesla might come to need the hefty sums suggested by the analyst.

Whether Tesla will become more of a disruptive brand in the automotive world is still anybody's guess. Still, Archambault's suggestion of that possible $6 billion figure was enough to have an effect on Tesla's stock price, which fell after the estimate was released last week, and remains down as of this writing after a note from JP Morgan.