On the afternoon of December 22nd, Tesla announced that it had signed a land transfer contract with the Shanghai Lingang New Area Management Committee for the Tesla Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory project. "The new factory is planned to start construction in the first quarter of 2024 and start production in the fourth quarter. Tesla stated that it initially plans to produce 10000 commercial energy storage batteries annually, with a storage capacity of nearly 40GWh.".
However, according to Tesla's announcement of the start and production time of the new super factory, it is later than the original plan. On April 9th of this year, Tesla announced that it will build a new super factory in Shanghai to produce Tesla's ultra large commercial energy storage battery (Megapack), with plans to break ground in the third quarter of this year and start production in the second quarter of 2024.
Regarding the reasons for the delay in the start and production of the new super factory, a reporter from the Daily Economic News inquired with Tesla, but as of press release, no response has been received.
As Tesla's first energy storage super factory project outside the United States, the Tesla Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory was once defined by Tesla CEO Musk as an expansion of Megapack's California factory capacity. "The products produced by the Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory will be aimed at the global market," Tesla China staff revealed in an interview with reporters.
According to Mo Ke, Chief Analyst of True Lithium Research, supporting industries such as batteries, inverters, and thermal management systems are more developed in China. Tesla's decision to build a factory in China can effectively reduce Megapack's manufacturing costs.
It is reported that Tesla Megapack is a large, highly integrated energy storage solution aimed at helping grid operators, utility companies, and independent power generators store and distribute renewable energy more efficiently. The Megapack, which will soon be manufactured in Shanghai, can store over 3.9 MWh of energy per unit to meet the hourly electricity demand of 3600 households. "As a commercial energy storage product suitable for various application scenarios, Megapack provides customers with comprehensive energy solutions, including power generation side and grid stability, integration of power station energy storage, frequency regulation, emergency backup power supply, and microgrid construction," Tesla said.
According to public information, Tesla's energy storage business began in 2015, entering the energy storage field through its home storage product Powerwall and commercial storage product Powerpack. After acquiring household photovoltaic leader SolarCity in 2016, Tesla further improved its home solar storage sector and launched upgraded versions of Powerwall2 and Powerpack 2. In 2019, Tesla officially launched the Megapack large-scale energy storage system for the utility level energy storage market. In 2022, Tesla upgraded its entire Megapack product line to a lithium iron phosphate solution.
According to official data, Tesla currently has energy storage products including Powerwall, Powerpack, and Megapack in over 65 countries and regions worldwide, with over 1500 operating sites and a total installed capacity of over 10 gigawatt hours. Among them, Megapack has already used renewable energy to supplement and ensure local electricity in many regions such as North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe.
In its Master Plan Part 3 released earlier this year, Tesla set its goal to fully shift towards sustainable energy and achieve 100% energy sustainability by 2050. The Tesla Energy Storage Super Factory project is also one of the important measures to achieve this goal. "The future of renewable energy depends on large-scale energy storage," Tesla explained.
In April this year, Chen Xiuzhu, the fund manager of Morgan Stanley Huaxin Fund, publicly stated that in the past two years, the energy storage industry has gradually moved from commercialization to scale, and with many countries and regions introducing favorable policies, the operating model of the energy storage industry is gradually maturing. 2023 remains a major year for the growth of the energy storage industry, with high certainty in the growth rate of global energy storage demand. The installed capacity in the Chinese and American markets is expected to double continuously.
Tesla's Q3 2023 financial report shows that its total installed energy storage capacity reached 4 gigawatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 90%. "Energy storage is becoming one of the most profitable and promising businesses for the company," Tesla said. Currently, the energy and services sector has contributed over $500 million in quarterly profits to the company.
According to the financial report, in addition to its automotive business, Tesla's revenue from its power generation and energy storage business reached $1.559 billion in the third quarter of this year, a 40% increase from $1.117 billion in the same period last year and also higher than $1.509 billion in the previous quarter.