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Tesla Energy’s time has come, so buckle up for an even more brutal battle

(Credit: Tesla)

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Just recently, Tesla rolled out a subtle update to its official website. After welcoming the site’s visitors with its electric vehicle lineup for years, tesla.com now primarily showcases Tesla Energy products, represented by a header image featuring a home with solar panels and Powerwall batteries. The update was simple, but the company’s message was clear: Tesla Energy’s time to shine in the spotlight as arrived. The time to push battery storage and solar solutions into the mainstream market is now. 

Tesla is known more as an electric vehicle manufacturer, and for good reason. The company owes its existence to the original Tesla Roadster, a small sports car that was built on a Lotus platform that broke mainstream conventions about what an electric car could be like. But the company’s mission as per CEO Elon Musk has always been clear: Tesla exists to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainability. And it just so happens that electric vehicles cannot get the job done alone. 

During a previous interview with Teslarati, Robert Bollinger, the founder of Bollinger Motors, a maker of off-road, rough-and-tough EV trucks and pickups, stated that any new automaker today has to be focused on electric cars. And he’s absolutely right. It may not be universally acknowledged outright, but the automotive industry knows that electric vehicles are the way to go in order to survive the future. Full stop. 

It might be a strange idea today, but there was once a time when electric vehicles were not taken seriously by the motoring industry at all. With the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and now the Model Y, Tesla has essentially pulled the automotive sector towards electric transportation kicking and screaming. After years of empty EV promises, unnecessarily complex electric concept cars that will never get mass produced, and sweet-talking statements about commitments to a zero-emissions future, legacy auto simply cannot stand by and maintain its old stance. It simply cannot afford to if it wants to survive. 

The same has not happened yet to the utility sector. Renewables are on the rise, and climate action awareness is gaining ground. But overall, the idea of utilities being powered by renewables and giant batteries is still widely considered as niche ideas for now. The fossil fuel industry is still very prominent in the energy sector, and thus, the battle for sustainability on this front is only just beginning — and it will be very, very difficult. If the automotive sector was pulled into EVs kicking and screaming, the energy sector, which is dominated by the fossil fuel industry, will likely fight even harder. 

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This is something that supporters of Tesla and those that follow the company have to keep in mind. Tesla has struggled with misinformation for over a decade thanks to short-sellers and skeptics who simply don’t believe in electric cars or the company’s specific approach to EVs. It would thus be wise to brace for the upcoming challenges that will be brought about by Tesla quite literally taking on the fossil fuel industry, and in an arena that it has dominated for a very long time. 

Fortunately, Tesla is now a mature company with an equally mature technology. Its battery tech is also second to none, as evidenced by the upcoming announcements for its highly-speculated million-mile battery. These, together with the support of an electric car business that is now the largest in the automotive industry by market cap, may very well give Tesla Energy enough power to disrupt, and eventually transition, the utility sector towards sustainability. 

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Energy

Tesla’s new Megablock system can power 400,000 homes in under a month

Tesla also unveiled the Megapack 3, the latest iteration of its flagship utility scale battery.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has unveiled the Megablock and Megapack 3, the latest additions to its industrial-scale battery storage solution lineup. 

The products highlight Tesla Energy’s growing role in the company, as well as the division’s growing efforts to provide sustainable energy solutions for industrial-scale applications.

Megablock targets speed and scale

During the “Las Megas” event in Las Vegas, Tesla launched Megablock, a pre-engineered medium-voltage block designed to integrate Megapack 3 units in a plug-and-play system. Capable of 20 MWh AC with a 25-year life cycle and more than 10,000 cycles, the Megablock could achieve 91% round-trip efficiency at medium voltage, inclusive of auxiliary loads.

Tesla emphasized that Megablock can be installed 23% faster with up to 40% lower construction costs. The platform eliminates above-ground cabling through a new flexible busbar assembly and delivers site-level density of 248 MWh per acre. With Megablock, Tesla is also aiming to commission 1 GWh in just 20 business days, or enough to power 400,000 homes in less than a month. 

“With Megablock, we are targeting to commission 1 GWh in 20 business days, which is the equivalent of bringing power to 400,000 homes in less than a month. It’s crazy. How are we planning to do that? Like most things at Tesla, we are ruthlessly attacking every opportunity to save our customers time, simplify the process, remove steps, (and) automate as much as we can,” the company said. 

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Megapack 3 is all about simplicity

The Megapack 3 is Tesla’s next-generation utility battery, designed with a simplified architecture that cuts 78% of connections compared to the previous version. Its thermal bay is drastically simplified, and it uses a Model Y heat pump on steroids. The battery weighs about 86,000 pounds and holds 5 MWh of usable AC energy. Tesla engineers incorporated a larger battery module and a new 2.8-liter LFP cell co-developed with the company’s cell team.

The Megapack 3 is designed for serviceability, and it features easier front access and no roof penetrations. About 75% of Megapack 3’s total mass is battery cells, with individual modules weighing as much as a Cybertruck. It’s also tough, with an ambient operating temperature range from -40C to 60C. This should allow the Megapack 3 to operate optimally from the coldest to the hottest regions on the planet.

Production is set to begin at Tesla’s Houston Megafactory in late 2026, with planned capacity of 50 GWh per year. Additional supply will come from Tesla’s 7 GWh LFP facility in Nevada, which is expected to open in 2025, as well as with third-party partners.

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Energy

Tesla Energy is the world’s top global battery storage system provider again

Tesla Energy captured 15% of the battery storage segment’s global market share in 2024.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Energy held its top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year, capturing 15% of global market share in 2024, as per Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings.

Tesla Energy’s lead, however, is shrinking, as Chinese competitors like Sungrow are steadily increasing their global footprint, particularly in European markets.

Tesla Energy dominates in North America, but its lead is narrowing globally

Tesla Energy retained its leadership in the North American market with a commanding 39% share in 2024. Sungrow, though still ranked second in the region, saw its share drop from 17% to 10%. Powin took third place, even if the company itself filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, as noted in a Solar Power World report. 

On the global stage, Tesla Energy’s lead over Sungrow shrank from four points in 2023 to just one in 2024, indicating intensifying competition. Chinese firm CRRC came in third worldwide with an 8% share.

Wood Mackenzie ranked vendors based on MWh shipments with recognized revenue in 2024. According to analyst Kevin Shang, “Competition among established BESS integrators remains incredibly intense. Seven of the top 10 vendors last year struggled to expand their market share, remaining either unchanged or declining.”

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Chinese integrators surge in Europe, falter in U.S.

China’s influence on the BESS market continues to grow, with seven of the global top 10 BESS integrators now headquartered in the country. Chinese companies saw a 67% year-over-year increase in European market share, and four of the top 10 BESS vendors in Europe are now based in China. In contrast, Chinese companies’ market share in North America dropped more than 30%, from 23% to 16% amid Tesla Energy’s momentum and the Trump administration’s policies.

Wood Mackenzie noted that success in the global BESS space will hinge on companies’ ability to adapt to divergent regulations and geopolitical headwinds. “The global BESS integrator landscape is becoming increasingly complex, with regional trade policies and geopolitical tensions reshaping competitive dynamics,” Shang noted, pointing to Tesla’s maintained lead and the rapid ascent of Chinese rivals as signs of a shifting industry balance.

“While Tesla maintains its global leadership, the rapid rise of Chinese integrators in Europe and their dominance in emerging markets like the Middle East signals a fundamental shift in the industry. Success will increasingly depend on companies’ ability to navigate diverse regulatory environments, adapt to local market requirements, and maintain competitive cost structures across multiple regions,” the analyst added.

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Energy

Tesla inks multi-billion-dollar deal with LG Energy Solution to avoid tariff pressure

Tesla has reportedly secured a sizable partnership with LGES for LFP cells, and there’s an extra positive out of it.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has reportedly inked a multi-billion-dollar deal with LG Energy Solution in an effort to avoid tariff pressure and domesticate more of its supply chain.

Reuters is reporting that Tesla and LGES, a South Korean battery supplier of the automaker, signed a $4.3 billion deal for energy storage system batteries. The cells are going to be manufactured by LGES at its U.S. factory located in Michigan, the report indicates. The batteries will be the lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, chemistry.

Tesla delivers 384,000 vehicles in Q2 2025, deploys 9.6 GWh in energy storage

It is a move Tesla is making to avoid buying cells and parts from overseas as the Trump White House continues to use tariffs to prioritize domestic manufacturing.

LGES announced earlier today that it had signed a $4.3 billion contract to supply LFP cells over three years to a company, but it did not identify the customer, nor did the company state whether the batteries would be used in automotive or energy storage applications.

The deal is advantageous for both companies. Tesla is going to alleviate its reliance on battery cells that are built out of the country, so it’s going to be able to take some financial pressure off itself.

For LGES, the company has reported that it has experienced slowed demand for its cells in terms of automotive applications. It planned to offset this demand lag with more projects involving the cells in energy storage projects. This has been helped by the need for these systems at data centers used for AI.

During the Q1 Earnings Call, Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja confirmed that the company’s energy division had been impacted by the need to source cells from China-based suppliers. He went on to say that the company would work on “securing additional supply chain from non-China-based suppliers.”

It seems as if Tesla has managed to secure some of this needed domestic supply chain.

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