> 1. Tesla Motors makes money on regulatory credits that conventional automakers must purchase in order to offset their ICE vehicle production. That's actually Tesla's only source of profit. Unfortunately for Tesla Motors, those regulatory credits aren't going to be in such high demand in a world where major automakers each produce hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles.

Tesla has a 20% gross margin, which is significantly better than most competitors. So they make lots of profit per car, lots more than they make from regulatory credits.

On a free cash flow basis, Tesla is profitable.

On a GAAP basis, Tesla is profitable.

If you remove all non-recurring revenue & expenses, Tesla is profitable.

Removing non-recurring revenue (aka regulatory credits) from their income statement is a useful exercise when trying to predict their future revenue. But if you do, you also should be removing non-recurring expenses too (mostly Musk's stock grant).