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Tesla to end Home Depot partnership as it closes 12 solar facilities: report

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Tesla is closing around a dozen of its solar facilities across nine states in the United States. The closures of the solar sites are reportedly part of the company’s ongoing restructuring, which is set to lay off 9% of Tesla’s workforce.

According to Reuters, the information comes from three internal company documents and statements from seven present and former Tesla employees. The documents accessed by the publication state that the latest cuts to the division come from a part of the company that was once SolarCity. Tesla’s partnership with Home Depot to push sales of its solar solutions and Powerwall 2 home batteries is set to be discontinued as well. According to Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes, its partnership with Tesla would last through the end of 2018, after which it would continue a partnership with competitor Sunrun in a number of its stores. 

An internal company list reviewed by Reuters added that after the closures of the solar facilities, about 60 solar installation sites would remain open. The facilities that will be closed are reportedly located in California, Texas, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, and Arizona. Solar customer service staff at call centers in Utah and Nevada have also been reportedly laid off by the company.

A Tesla Powerwall 2 displayed in a Home Depot outlet. [Credit: Xixu/Twitter]

With the Home Depot partnership terminated, Tesla will now push its solar solutions through its own stores. Personnel from the facilities that are set to be closed are being transferred to other sites as well. In a statement to Reuters, Tesla noted that the company still expects to grow its solar and battery business over time.

“We continue to expect that Tesla’s solar and battery business will be the same size as automotive over the long term. Tesla stores have some of the highest foot traffic of any retail space in the country,” the company said.

While stopping its partnership with Home Depot might come off as alarming, GTM Research analyst Austin Perea noted that the deal might have been discontinued as a means to reduce unnecessary expenses. While the Home Depot partnership accounted for a significant number of solar and energy sales for Tesla, third-party retail partnerships are among the most expensive means of generating sales in the solar industry. According to Perea, the cost of winning a customer through Home Depot could cost up to $7,000 per system, roughly 45% more compared to the national average of $4,000 per installation.

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Tesla’s energy business is steadily growing, however. Last month, CTO JB Straubel noted in a statement to Fast Company that Tesla had installed 1 GWh worth of energy storage to date, an impressive figure that was reiterated by Elon Musk during the company’s 2018 Annual Shareholder Meeting. During the investors’ event, Musk noted that Tesla would be doing another 1 GWh project less than a year from now, with more growth set to happen within the next few years. As could be seen in Tesla’s 10-Q form for Q1 2018, the company’s energy and storage revenue increased 92% in the three months ended March 31, 2008 year-on-year, primarily due to the earnings of the 129 MWh Powerpack farm in South Australia, which generated $72.5 million on its own.

Tesla continues to deploy its energy solutions to several projects across the globe. Currently, Tesla is involved in roughly 11,000 projects in Puerto Rico, where it continues to help communities damaged by Hurricane Maria get back on their feet. Tesla is also starting on the beginnings of a virtual power plant in South Australia involving 50,000 residential homes fitted with Powerwall 2 home batteries and residential solar. 

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.

Energy

Tesla Lathrop Megafactory celebrates massive Megapack battery milestone

The Tesla Megapack is the backbone of Tesla Energy’s battery deployments.

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Credit: Tesla Megapack/X

The Tesla Lathrop Megafactory recently achieved a new milestone. As per the official Tesla Megapack account on X, the Lathrop Megafactory has produced its 15,000th Megapack 2 XL battery.

15,000 Megapack Batteries

Tesla celebrated the milestone with a photo of the Lathrop Megafactory team posing with a freshly produced Megapack battery. To commemorate the event, the team held balloons that spelled out “15,000” as they posed for the photo.

The Tesla Megapack is the backbone of Tesla Energy’s battery deployments. Designed for grid-scale applications, each Megapack offers 3.9 MWh of energy and 1.9 MW of power. The battery is extremely scalable, making it perfect for massive energy storage projects.

https://twitter.com/Tesla_Megapack/status/1932578971700638203

More Megafactories

The Lathrop Megafactory is Tesla’s first dedicated facility for its flagship battery storage system. It currently stands as the largest utility-scale battery factory in North America. The facility is capable of producing 10,000 Megapack batteries every year, equal to 40 GWh of clean energy storage.

Thanks to the success of the Megapack, Tesla has expanded its energy business by building and launching the Shanghai Megafactory, which is also expected to produce 40 GWh of energy storage per year. The ramp of the Shanghai Megafactory is quite impressive, with Tesla noting in its Q1 2025 Update Letter that the Shanghai Megafactory managed to produce over 100 Megapack batteries in the first quarter alone.

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Tesla Energy’s Potential

During the first quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk stated that the Megapack is extremely valuable to the energy industry. 

“The Megapack enables utility companies to output far more total energy than would otherwise be the case… This is a massive unlock on total energy output of any given grid over the course of a year. And utility companies are beginning to realize this and are buying in our Megapacks at scale,” Musk said.

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Energy

Tesla Megapacks powers the xAI Colossus supercomputer

Tesla Megapacks step in to stabilize xAI’s Colossus supercomputer, replacing natural gas turbines. Musk’s ventures keep intertwining.

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(Credit: Tesla Megapack)

Tesla Megapack batteries will power the xAI Colossus supercomputer in Memphis to ensure power stability. The collaboration between Tesla and xAI highlights the synergy among Elon Musk’s ventures.

The artificial intelligence startup has integrated Tesla Megapacks to manage outages and demand surges, bolstering the facility’s reliability. The Greater Memphis Chamber announced that Colossus, recently connected to a new 150-megawatt electric substation, is completing its first construction phase. This transition addresses criticism from environmental justice groups over the initial use of natural gas turbines.

“The temporary natural gas turbines that were being used to power the Phase I GPUs prior to grid connection are now being demobilized and will be removed from the site over the next two months.

“About half of the operating turbines will remain operating to power Phase II GPUs of xAI until a second substation (#22) already in construction is completed and connected to the electric grid, which is planned for the Fall of 2025, at which time the remaining turbines will be relegated to a backup power role,” the Chamber stated.

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xAI’s rapid development of Colossus reflects its ambition to advance AI capabilities, but the project has faced scrutiny for environmental impacts. The shift to Megapacks and grid power aims to mitigate these concerns while ensuring operational continuity.

The Megapack deployment underscores the collaboration among Musk’s companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company. Tesla appears to be the common link between all of Musk’s companies. For example, The Boring Company built a tunnel in Giga, Texas. In addition, Musk has hinted at a potential collaboration between the Tesla Optimus Bot and Neuralink. And from January 2024 to February 2025, xAI invested $230 million in Megapacks, per a Tesla filing.

Tesla Energy reported a 156% year-over-year increase in Q1 2025, deploying 10.4 GWh of storage products, including Megapacks and Powerwalls. Tesla’s plans for a new Megapack factory in Waller County, Texas, which is expected to create 1,500 jobs in the area, further signal its commitment to scaling energy solutions.

As xAI leverages Tesla’s Megapacks to power Colossus, the integration showcases Musk’s interconnected business ecosystem. The supercomputer’s enhanced stability positions xAI to drive AI innovation, while Tesla’s energy solutions gain prominence, setting the stage for broader technological and economic impacts.

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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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