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Bloomberg Says Tesla Powerwall Doesn’t Make Sense

Bloomberg News says the Tesla Powerwall doesn’t make sense. So why have 38,000 folks signed up to own or lease one when deliveries won’t start for 6 months?

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Bloomberg News questions whether the Tesla Powerwall — introduced to great fanfare on April 30 — makes economic sense. Their answer? It doesn’t — at least not now. Here’s why.

The Powerwall comes in two versions — a 7 kWh (kilowatt-hour) model and a 10 kWh unit. The smaller battery is design specifically for daily use. The larger battery is strictly a backup power supply.

SolarCity, Tesla’s sister company, has decided not to offer the 7 kWh battery with its rooftop solar systems. That battery “doesn’t really make financial sense,” SolarCity spokesman Jonathan Bass tells Bloomberg. That’s because customers can make money selling their excess solar power back to the grid during the day when rates are high rather than using it to charge up a battery.

Of course, the economics will vary considerably across the country. Not all states require utilities to accept electricity from home solar systems and each electric company has its own rate structure.

SolarCity Offers Larger Powerwall

Solar Installed

SolarCity system installed at New England home of Tesla owner (Source: Rob M)

SolarCity says it will only offer the 10 kWh battery to new rooftop solar customers. “Our residential offering is battery backup,” Bass said in an e-mail. Unlike the smaller unit, which is intended for daily use, the 10 kWh battery is designed for no more than 50 discharge cycles a year. Homeowners can buy it outright for $7,140, including an inverter and installation, or lease it for $15 a month for 9 years with an upfront payment of $5,000.

The 10 kWh battery is rated at 2 kilowatts of continuous power. Does that sound like a lot? It’s not. That’s only enough to run a hair dryer or 2 small window air conditioners for about 5 hours. To provide enough electricity to power a typical home would take eight Powerwall units working together. According to Bloomberg, that would cost $45,000 (if the nine year lease option is selected). There are no known discounts for multiple purchases at this time.

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“It’s a luxury good—really cool to have—but I don’t see an economic argument,” said Brian Warshay, an energy and smart technologies analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Bloomberg suggests you could get the same back up capability from a $3,700 generator available at Home Depot.

Demand Is “Crazy”

The Powerwall that has captured the public’s imagination has a long way to go before it makes economic sense for most people. Even in Germany, where solar power is abundant and electricity prices are high, the economics of an average home with rooftop solar “are not significantly enhanced by including the Tesla battery,” according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Tesla PowerWall units connected

Tesla PowerWall units connected

None of this has dampened the enthusiasm of prospective Powerwall users. Since Elon Musk’s announcement last week, the company has received inquiries from 38,000 people. Demand is so strong, Tesla is considering using its GigaFactory exclusively for residential and commercial storage batteries instead of batteries for its automobiles. There are even rumors it plans to expand the GigaFactory, which isn’t even built yet. Musk says demand has been “crazy off the hook.” He acknowledges that the Powerwall is more expensive than grid power, but says, “that doesn’t mean people won’t buy it.”

If the numbers don’t add up, why would people be in such a frenzy to get a Powerwall of their very own? SolarCity’s Bass says, “There’s a tremendous amount of interest in backup power that’s odorless, not noisy and completely clean.” But its more than that. Some observers call it “The Prius Effect”. Once you think someone else has something new and sexy, you want one for yourself. It’s just human nature.

Elon Musk is a master at creating buzz and then leveraging it. Everywhere you look this week, there are news stories about the Powerwall and what a huge leap forward it is. If all the people who signed up after last week’s announcement follow through, all those new orders will amount to $800 million in new business for the company. The orders are continuing to pour in like a flood tide into the Bay of Fundy.

Tesla Drives Costs Down

Is there anything truly remarkable about the Tesla Powerwall? Yes, there absolutely is. Based on the asking price for the Powerwall, Tesla has managed to get the cost of its batteries down to $250 per kilowatt-hour, something the “experts” claimed couldn’t happen before 2020. That gives Tesla a sizable marketing advantage over other battery companies and that’s before the GigaFactory starts production. Once that comes online, battery prices will undoubtedly fall even more. Musk’s faith in economies of scale seems to be paying off.

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What’s Ahead For Tesla?

The truth is that Tesla is really not in the “off the grid” home battery market right now, although there is talk about offering batteries to residents of Hawaii, where electricity costs triple what it does on the mainland. Tesla really has its sights set on commercial and utility scale products. Utility companies often charge commercial and industrial customers their highest rates.

Harness-Store-Power

Business and industry can now charge their Tesla PowerPacks at night when rates are low. Or they can use solar panels to charge them during the day. Either way, they avoid buying electricity from utility companies at peak demand rates.

A battle is shaping up between energy makers and energy storage providers. The outcome will be nothing less than an upheaval in the way electricity is made and distributed. Battery storage is disruptive technology and there is no one who is more of a champion of disruptive technology than Elon Musk.

In 10 years, residential battery storage systems will be as common as stoves and refrigerators. No home will be without one. SolarCity’s Bass suggests that’s when the Tesla Powerwall will begin to  make economic sense. Microgrids that soak up energy from the sun to charge grid scale batteries will be everywhere. Utility companies as we know them will become marginal players. The Rocky Mountain Institute predicts that demand for electricity from traditional utility companies will decline by 50% in the next 10 years.

As the market for electricity changes, there will be winners and losers. There is no question Elon Musk plans on being one of the winners.

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Source: Bloomberg News

 

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Energy

Tesla Energy celebrates one decade of sustainability

Tesla Energy has gone far since its early days, and it is now becoming a progressively bigger part of the company.

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla Energy recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a dedicated video showcasing several of its milestones over the past decade.

Tesla Energy has gone far since its early days, and it is now becoming a progressively bigger part of the company.

Tesla Energy Early Days

When Elon Musk launched Tesla Energy in 2015, he noted that the business is a fundamental transformation of how the world works. To start, Tesla Energy offered the Powerwall, a 7 kWh/10 kWh home battery system, and the Powerpack, a grid-capable 100 kWh battery block that is designed for scalability. A few days after the products’ launch, Musk noted that Tesla had received 38,000 reservations for the Powerwall and 2,500 reservations for the Powerpack

Tesla Energy’s beginnings would herald its quiet growth, with the company later announcing products like the Solar Roof tile, which is yet to be ramped, and the successor to the Powerwall, the 13.5 kWh Powerwall 2. In recent years, Tesla Energy also launched its Powerwall 3 home battery and the massive Megapack, a 3.9 MWh monster of a battery unit that has become the backbone for energy storage systems across the globe.

Key Milestones

As noted by Tesla Energy in its recent video, it has now established facilities that allow the company to manufacture 20,000 units of the Megapack every year, which should help grow the 23 GWh worth of Megapacks that have already been deployed globally. 

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The Powerwall remains a desirable home battery as well, with more than 850,000 units installed worldwide. These translate to 12 GWh of residential entry storage delivered to date. Just like the Megapack, Tesla is also ramping its production of the Powerwall, allowing the division to grow even more.

Tesla Energy’s Role

While Tesla Energy does not catch as much headlines as the company’s electric vehicle businesses, its contributions to the company’s bottom line have been growing. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Tesla Energy deployed 10.4 GWh of energy storage products. Powerwall deployments also crossed 1 GWh in one quarter for the first time. As per Tesla in its Q1 2025 Update Letter, the gross margin for the Energy division has improved sequentially as well.

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Tesla Energy shines with substantial YoY growth in deployments

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Credit: Tesla Megapack

Tesla Energy shined in what was a weak delivery report for the first quarter, as the company’s frequently-forgotten battery storage products performed extraordinarily well.

Tesla reported its Q1 production, delivery, and deployment figures for the first quarter of the year, and while many were less-than-excited about the automotive side, the Energy division performed well with 10.4 GWh of energy storage products deployed during the first quarter.

This was a 156 percent increase year-over-year and the company’s second-best quarter in terms of energy deployments to date. Only Q4 2024 was better, as 11 GWh was recorded.

Tesla Energy is frequently forgotten and not talked about enough. The company has continued to deploy massive energy storage projects across the globe, and as it recorded 31.5 GWh of deployments last year, 2025 is already looking as if it will be a record-setting year if it continues at this pace.

Tesla Megapacks to back one of Europe’s largest energy storage sites

Although Energy performed well, many investors are privy to that of the automotive division’s performance, which is where some concern lies. Tesla had a weak quarter for deliveries, missing Wall Street estimates by a considerable margin.

There are two very likely reasons as to why this happened: the first is Tesla’s switchover to the new Model Y at its production facilities across the globe. Tesla said it lost “several weeks” of production due to the updating of manufacturing lines as it rolled out a new version of its all-electric crossover.

Secondly, Tesla could be facing some pressure from pushback against the brand, which is what many analysts will say. Despite the publicity of attacks on Tesla drivers and their vehicles, as well as the company’s showrooms, it would be safe to assume that we will have a better picture painted of what the issue is in Q2 after the company reports numbers in July.

New Tesla Model Y was a best-seller in China in March 2025

If Tesla is still struggling with lackluster delivery figures in Q2 after the Model Y is ramped and deliveries are more predictable and consistent, we could see where the argument for brand damage is legitimate. However, we are more prone to believe the Model Y, which accounts for most of Tesla’s sales, and its production ramp is likely the cause for what happened in Q1.

In what was a relatively bleak quarter, Tesla Energy still shines as the bright spot for the quarter.

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Energy

Tesla lands in Texas for latest Megapack production facility

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla has chosen the location of its latest manufacturing project, a facility that will churn out the Megapack, a large-scale energy storage system for solar energy projects. It has chosen Waller County, Texas, as the location of the new plant, according to a Commissioners Court meeting that occurred on Wednesday, March 5.

Around midday, members of the Waller County Commissioners Court approved a tax abatement agreement that will bring Tesla to its area, along with an estimated 1,500 jobs. The plant will be located at the Empire West Industrial Park in the Brookshire part of town.

Brookshire also plans to consider a tax abatement for Tesla at its meeting next Thursday.

The project will see a one million square-foot building make way for Tesla to build Megapack battery storage units, according to Covering Katy News, which first reported on the company’s intention to build a plant for its energy product.

CEO Elon Musk confirmed on the company’s Q4 2024 Earnings Call in late January that it had officially started building its third Megapack plant, but did not disclose any location:

“So, we have our second factory, which is in Shanghai, that’s starting operation, and we’re building a third factory. So, we’re trying to ramp output of the stationary battery storage as quickly as possible.”

Tesla plans third Megafactory after breaking energy records in 2024

The Megapack has been a high-demand item as more energy storage projects have started developing. Across the globe, regions are looking for ways to avert the loss of power in the event of a natural disaster or simple power outage.

This is where Megapack comes in, as it stores energy and keeps the lights on when the main grid is unable to provide electricity.

Vince Yokom of the Waller County Economic Development Partnership, commented on Tesla’s planned Megapack facility:

“I want to thank Tesla for investing in Waller County and Brookshire. This will be a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for their Megapack product. It is a powerful battery unit that provides energy storage and support to help stabilize the grid and prevent outages.”

Tesla has had a lease on the building where it will manufacture the Megapacks since October 2021. However, it was occupied by a third-party logistics company that handled the company’s car parts.

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