Tesla delivered slightly more than 22,000 electric cars during the second quarter of the year, split between roughly 12,000 Model S hatchback sedans and about 10,000 Model X crossover utility vehicles.

That total is more than 50 percent higher than the comparable April-June number for 2016, but down from the 25,000 cars it delivered in the first quarter of this year.

Total electric-car deliveries for the first half of this year came to 47,100, barely within earlier Tesla guidance of 47,000 to 50,000 vehicles.

DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3 production to start Friday, deliveries July 28

Tesla subsequently clarified that it also had 3,500 cars in transit, after being asked why the information was not included in its release. That is lower than the 4,650 in transit at the end of March, and the 6,450 in transit at the end of 2016.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was first published on July 4; three days later, Tesla released information on the number of vehicles in transit, which it had omitted from its results for the first time in many quarters. We have updated the article accordingly.

The Silicon Valley company said total deliveries had been affected by "a severe production shortfall of 100 kWh battery packs, which are made using new technologies on new production lines."

 

2017 Tesla Model X

2017 Tesla Model X

That 100-kwh battery, the largest offered in either model, uses modules of a new design, thought to be the one that will be used in the less expensive Model 3 that is to go into production on July 7.

"Until early June," Tesla wrote in its release, "production averaged about 40 percent below demand."

"Once this was resolved," Tesla continued, "June orders and deliveries were strong, ranking as one of the best in Tesla history."

READ THIS: Tesla delivered 25,000 electric cars in Q1 2017, plus or minus

Tesla noted in its release that the final delivery count could vary by up to one-half of 1 percent, based on the completion of paperwork.

Tesla delivered 76,230 cars last year, though it built just under 84,000.

For the first half of this year, its production total was 51,126: 25,708 in the quarter just ended, and 25,418 in the first quarter.

Tesla Model 3 spotted at service center

Tesla Model 3 spotted at service center

"Provided global economic conditions do not worsen considerably," Tesla said, "we are confident that combined deliveries of Model S and Model X in the second half of 2017 will likely exceed deliveries in the first half of 2017."

Most analyses suggest that it will sell roughly 100,000 Model S and Model X cars globally during the full year of 2017.

CHECK OUT: Tesla delivered 76,000 cars in 2016, missing its goal

With the two older models as a base, it's the number of Model 3 cars that the company will build and deliver during the balance of 2017 that industry analysts, supporters, owners, and reservation-holders will focus most intently on.

While some press reports have said the company has now taken as many as half a million reservations for the Model 3, that number is not confirmed. Tesla itself has stuck with the reservation total it issued in August 2016: 373,000.

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