Tesla battery record gives Musk boost as EV deliveries fall
Electric mobility pioneer more than doubles energy storage deployments as projects tap Megapack technology
Energy storage provided a bright spot for Elon Musk and Tesla even as the electric vehicle pioneer came under pressure over car sales.
Tesla, which is equipping some of the world’s largest battery projects with its Megapack systems, deployed 31.4GWh of storage in 2024 and a quarterly record 11GWh in Q4.
The annual figure more than doubled the 14.7GWh level of deployment in 2023 – itself a 125% increase on 2022 – and continued a steep upward curve for Tesla’s energy storage operation, which CEO Musk has previously predicted would eventually rival its EV business in scale.
Musk’s company also produces Powerwall energy storage systems for domestic use.
Analyst Morningstar said it would raise its forecast for Tesla energy storage growth in light of the 2024 numbers.
Megapacks are currently manufactured at the Lathrop, California Megafactory east of San Francisco. That is being joined by a second plant in Shanghai, China, where test production has just started. Between them the two plants will have the capacity to produce some 80GWh annually.
The storage deployment was a plus for Tesla, which saw its shares drop 6% in the US yesterday after EV deliveries came in lower than in 2023, prompting fears about the impact of Chinese competition.
Musk is poised to loom large in US policymaking in the coming years thanks to his support for Donald Trump.
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