

Energy
Tesla is offering Solar customers an incentive in latest referral program update
Tesla is now offering a $250 award to new solar customers who purchase or subscribe to a solar panel system through the company’s referral program. The $250 incentive will also apply to anyone who refers a buyer through a referral link.
“Our goal is to build the best clean energy products and help Tesla owners share their excitement and experiences with others,” Tesla says in its updated referral program page.
For referring customers and their referrals to receive the $250 award, they must place their orders via Design Studio using the referrer’s unique referral link. The award is only applicable to orders placed on or after Oct. 1, 2019.
The referral cannot be credited after the order has been placed or at the time of product delivery. Customers will receive their awards after the solar panel system has been installed and activated.
Tesla’s referral program for solar only includes purchases and subscriptions of its solar panels. At the moment, it does not cover purchases of the Powerwall, Powerpack, or the new Solarglass.
- Tesla offers $250 incentive for Solar panel installations (Credit: Teslarati)
Tesla Solar: Should you buy or subscribe?
Tesla offers a range of options for solar panel customers, depending on the needs and budget of the homeowner.
Buying a solar panel system allows you to choose from a range of four sizes. A small system is most suitable for 1,000 to 2,000-square-foot homes with an average electric bill of $90 to $110 per month. It can generate up to around 14 to 19 kWh per day.
On the other end of the spectrum, a large solar panel system produces an average of 58 to 77 kWh per day. It is best suited for large homes around 4,000 square feet. The price range for buying a solar panel system starts at $7,770 for the small system to $27,750 for the extra-large. This includes installation costs and federal tax incentives.
Homeowners can also opt for subscription solar, which makes it cheaper and easier to make the switch to sustainable energy. Tesla’s one-click subscription program is currently available in six states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New Mexico.
Small solar panel systems in all states except for California are available for $50 per month, medium for $100 per month, and large for $150 per month. California users are charged higher fees of $65, $130, and $195 for small, medium, and large systems respectively. All subscription rates also include installation costs.
Canceling a subscription does not come with a cancellation fee, although Tesla charges a removal fee to cover the cost of removing the panels.
Tesla ramps up Solarglass production
The renewed focus on its solar product follows news of Tesla firing up its production of Solarglass, which Musk unveiled in October last year. The company’s new flagship solar product boasts increased power density, easy installation, better durability, and a lower cost per watt compared to conventional solar panels.
Yes, you can walk on the Tesla Solarglass roof. In stilettos, if you want 😉 https://t.co/6wwKJqmPdr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2019
Musk previously announced that Tesla is “spooling up its production line rapidly” in hopes of building 1,000 solar roofs per week by the end of 2019.
The company has yet to make a report of its production numbers in its upcoming Q4 2019 earnings call set for Jan. 29. However, according to its third-quarter report, Tesla managed to deploy 43 MW of solar products, down from 93 MW during the same quarter of the previous year, but 43 percent higher than the number of installations in the quarter prior.
News of Tesla ramping up its solar panel production sparked in April last year, as Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, NY began hiring for at least three dozen job openings. In August of the same year, Tesla obtained a building permit to build a new testing facility for its solar panels in Fremont, CA.
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.

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.
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.
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.

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.”

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.
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.

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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