Energy
Tesla Energy, battery storage broke new ground in 2018, and 2019 will be even better
Visionaries like Elon Musk, who are aiming for a world powered by sustainable energy, would be proud of the industry’s progress in 2018. Over the course of the year, investments flowed into research, the prices of batteries declined, governments across the globe supported clean energy solutions, and electric vehicles such as the Tesla Model 3 led the charge in transitioning the transportation sector away from fossil fuels.
A study from Bloomberg New Energy Finance has noted that in 2018, global annual energy storage more than doubled, reaching 9 GWh, and it is currently on pace to rise another 78% this year. In August 2018, the cumulative sales of electric cars passed the 4 million mark as well, and NEF analysts expect the EV industry to surpass 5 million in sales in the first quarter of 2019. Even in the United States, where companies like Tesla are struggling to meet the demand for their residential energy products, deployments on a rated-power basis across the country rose 57% to an estimated 338 KW after three years of flat to negative growth.
At the core of all this growth are the advancements in battery technology. Producers of batteries have ramped their operations to meet increasing demand, from China’s BYD Co. Ltd. to South Korea’s LG Chem to Japan’s Panasonic Corp. and its US partner Tesla. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence notes that by 2028, the combined manufacturing capacity of these battery producers would likely reach at least 1,330 GWh. That’s about ten times greater than the entire’s industry’s total capacity entering 2018.
In an email to S&P Global Market Intelligence, Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, mentioned that the scale of recent battery projects signifies a change in the market. Moores also pointed out that while the emergence of electric cars is notable, the rise of energy storage has been impressive as well.
“When you see projects now being planned at over 1 GWh in scale, when only 18 months ago a 300-MWh installation was something to behold, you know you have entered a new era. It has been quite interesting to watch the battery makers’ dilemma of where to send the lithium-ion cells. Of course, they have contracts to honor with automotive producers, but the order inquiries from [energy storage] producers have been incredible,” Moores said.
One thing that is working in favor of renewables today is the falling prices of batteries and clean energy as a whole. Tom Buttgenbach, president and CEO of developer 8minutenergy Renewables LLC, described this in a statement to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“I can beat a gas peaker anywhere in the country today with a solar-plus-storage power plant. Who in their right mind today would build a new gas peaker? We are a factor of two cheaper,” he said.
Buttgenbach’s statements echo the words of Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel, who noted last year that the age of fossil fuel powered peaker plants is at an end. Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Straubel stated that batteries, even at their current state, are already starting to prove themselves as superior to conventional energy solutions.
“I think what we’ll see is we won’t build many new peaker plants, if any. Already what we’re seeing happening is the number of new ones being commissioned is drastically lower, and batteries are already outcompeting natural gas peaker plants,” the Tesla CTO said.
While the progress of batteries has been impressive, though, Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at Bloomberg NEF, has stated that the past year exhibited uneven growth among different regions across the globe. South Korea, for one, saw a rise in energy deployments, while territories like the United Kingdom took a step back. In the United States, extreme demand such as those faced by Tesla Energy for products like the Powerwall 2 also caused delays in installations. Yet, despite these, Goldie-Scot stated that 2018 was a turning point for energy storage nonetheless.
“Even though progress was uneven, there was a much greater consensus in 2018 over the importance of energy storage, even in the near term, in major markets. In 2017, there were still a lot of people talking about how energy storage was not necessarily a competitive solution and was going to be limited. I hear those conversations much less now. Energy storage is now becoming more integrated into resource plans,” she said.
Amidst this transition, companies such as Tesla are taking the battle to heart. Last November, for example, Tesla opened the doors of Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, NY to select members of the media. During the media visit, Tesla noted that it is aiming to ramp operations in the site with more hires, and that the 1.2-million sq ft facility is already running 24/7, with employees alternating 12-hour shifts. Tesla’s Gigafactory 2 is expected to play a huge role in the company’s energy business, considering that it is the site where the Solar Roof tiles, the company’s flagship solar product, are being manufactured.
Tesla is updating Cybertruck owners on its timeline of a massive feature that has yet to ship: Powershare with Powerwall.
Powershare is a bidirectional charging feature exclusive to Cybertruck, which allows the vehicle’s battery to act as a portable power source for homes, appliances, tools, other EVs, and more. It was announced in late 2023 as part of Tesla’s push into vehicle-to-everything energy sharing, and acting as a giant portable charger is the main advantage, as it can provide backup power during outages.
Cybertruck’s Powershare system supports both vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H), making it flexible and well-rounded for a variety of applications.
However, even though the feature was promised with Cybertruck, it has yet to be shipped to vehicles. Tesla communicated with owners through email recently regarding Powershare with Powerwall, which essentially has the pickup act as an extended battery.
Powerwall discharge would be prioritized before tapping into the truck’s larger pack.
However, Tesla is still working on getting the feature out to owners, an email said:
“We’re writing to let you know that the Powershare with Powerwall feature is still in development and is now scheduled for release in mid-2026.
This new release date gives us additional time to design and test this feature, ensuring its ability to communicate and optimize energy sharing between your vehicle and many configurations and generations of Powerwall. We are also using this time to develop additional Powershare features that will help us continue to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
Owners have expressed some real disappointment in Tesla’s continuous delays in releasing the feature, as it was expected to be released by late 2024, but now has been pushed back several times to mid-2026, according to the email.
Foundation Series Cybertruck buyers paid extra, expecting the feature to be rolled out with their vehicle upon pickup.
Cybertruck’s Lead Engineer, Wes Morrill, even commented on the holdup:
As a Cybertruck owner who also has Powerwall, I empathize with the disappointed comments.
To their credit, the team has delivered powershare functionality to Cybertruck customers who otherwise have no backup with development of the powershare gateway. As well as those with solar…
— Wes (@wmorrill3) December 12, 2025
He said that “it turned out to be much harder than anticipated to make powershare work seamlessly with existing Powerwalls through existing wall connectors. Two grid-forming devices need to negotiate who will form and who will follow, depending on the state of charge of each, and they need to do this without a network and through multiple generations of hardware, and test and validate this process through rigorous certifications to ensure grid safety.”
It’s nice to see the transparency, but it is justified for some Cybertruck owners to feel like they’ve been bait-and-switched.
Energy
Tesla starts hiring efforts for Texas Megafactory
Tesla’s Brookshire site is expected to produce 10,000 Megapacks annually, equal to 40 gigawatt hours of energy storage.
Tesla has officially begun hiring for its new $200 million Megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, a manufacturing hub expected to employ 1,500 people by 2028. The facility, which will build Tesla’s grid-scale Megapack batteries, is part of the company’s growing energy storage footprint.
Tesla’s hiring efforts for the Texas Megafactory are hinted at by the job openings currently active on the company’s Careers website.
Tesla’s Texas Megafactory
Tesla’s Brookshire site is expected to produce 10,000 Megapacks annually, equal to 40 gigawatt hours of energy storage, similar to the Lathrop Megafactory in California. Tesla’s Careers website currently lists over 30 job openings for the site, from engineers, welders, and project managers. Each of the openings is listed for Brookshire, Texas.
The company has leased two buildings in Empire West Business Park, with over $194 million in combined property and equipment investment. Tesla’s agreement with Waller County includes a 60% property tax abatement, contingent on meeting employment benchmarks: 375 jobs by 2026, 750 by 2027, and 1,500 by 2028, as noted in a report from the Houston Business Journal. Tesla is required to employ at least 1,500 workers in the facility through the rest of the 10-year abatement period.
Tesla’s clean energy boom
City officials have stated that Tesla’s arrival marks a turning point for the Texas city, as it highlights a shift from logistics to advanced clean energy manufacturing. Ramiro Bautista from Brookshire’s economic development office, highlighted this in a comment to the Journal.
“(Tesla) has great-paying jobs. Not just that, but the advanced manufacturing (and) clean energy is coming to the area,” he said. “So it’s not just your normal logistics manufacturing. This is advanced manufacturing coming to this area, and this brings a different type of job and investment into the local economy.”
Energy
Tesla and Samsung SDI in talks over new US battery storage deal: report
The update was related by industry sources and initially reported by South Korean news outlets.
Recent reports have suggested that Tesla and Samsung SDI are in talks over a potential partnership to supply batteries for large-scale energy storage systems (ESS).
The update was related by industry sources and initially reported by South Korean news outlets.
ESS batteries to be built at Samsung’s Indiana plant
As noted in a report from Korea JoongAng Daily, the demand for energy storage systems has been growing rapidly in North America, thanks in no small part to the surge in AI investments across numerous companies. With this in mind, Tesla has reportedly approached Samsung SDI about a potential battery supply deal.
The deal is reportedly worth over 3 trillion Korean won (approximately $2.11 billion) and will span three years, according to The Korea Global Economic Daily. A battery supply deal with Samsung SDI could make sense for Tesla as the company already has a grid-scale battery, the Megapack, which is perfect for industrial use. Samsung SDI could simply supply cells for the EV maker.
Production of the batteries would reportedly take place at Samsung SDI’s joint venture factory with Stellantis in Indiana, which is currently under construction. Samsung SDI recently announced plans to use part of that plant’s EV lines to produce cells for ESS, with a targeted capacity of 30 GWh by the end of next year.
Tesla and Samsung’s partnership
At present, only a handful of manufacturers, including Korea’s LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, SK On, and Japan’s Panasonic, are capable of producing energy storage-scale batteries domestically in the United States. A Samsung SDI official issued a comment about the matter, stating, “Nothing has been finalized regarding cooperation with Tesla.”
The possible energy storage system deal adds another layer to Tesla’s growing collaboration with Samsung, which is already in line as a partner in the upcoming production of Tesla’s AI5 and AI6 chips. Early sample manufacturing of the AI6 is expected to begin in South Korea, with mass production slated for Samsung’s Texas-based Taylor foundry when it starts operations.
The AI6 chip will power Tesla’s next wave of high-volume projects, including the Optimus humanoid robot and the autonomous Cybercab service. Musk has called the partnership with Samsung a “real collaboration,” adding that he personally plans to “walk the line” at the Taylor facility to speed up progress.
Tesla updates Cybertruck owners about key Powershare feature
Tesla’s northernmost Supercharger in North America opens
