Despite the growth pressure on Tesla's new car business, Tesla's business line in the Chinese market has achieved new results. Recently, the opening ceremony of Tesla's Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory was held in Lingang, Shanghai, and the factory is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2025. On the same day, Lingang Group also signed a contract with Tesla for China's first batch of ultra large electrochemical commercial energy storage system Megapack. This is another large-scale investment project of Tesla in China, following the Shanghai super factory, in the past decade of its entry into China.
Tesla's Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory is Tesla's first energy storage super factory outside of the United States. The factory will produce Tesla's ultra large electrochemical commercial energy storage system Megapack. The factory is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2025, with an annual production capacity of 10000 units and an energy storage capacity of nearly 40 gigawatt hours (1 gigawatt hour=1000 megawatt hours). The Megapack energy storage system can store over 3.9 megawatt hours of energy per unit, which is sufficient to meet the 1-hour electricity demand of 3600 households, or to drive 65 Model 3 rear wheel drive versions at full power.
In the hot land of Lingang, in 2019, Tesla's Shanghai super factory created "Shanghai speed" and "Tesla speed" with "construction started, production started, and delivery made in the same year". At present, Tesla's Shanghai super factory has an annual production of over 950000 vehicles, and Tesla has over 1.7 million car owners in China. Nowadays, The Megapack energy storage system is about to be put into operation in Shanghai, continuously refreshing Tesla's speed.
Tesla Senior Vice President Zhu Xiaotong introduced that Tesla has formed an innovative technology complex that vertically integrates the entire industry chain of electric vehicles, energy storage products, artificial intelligence, and robotics, committed to using disruptive technologies to solve fundamental problems in the transportation and energy sectors.
According to data, since 2015, Tesla has launched the Powerwall household energy storage battery and Megapack ultra large electrochemical commercial energy storage system in the United States, targeting the household energy storage market, as well as the commercial and industrial energy storage markets, respectively. Tesla's energy storage products are currently distributed in over 65 countries and regions worldwide. The total installed capacity in 2023 was 14.7 gigawatt hours, and the installed capacity in the first quarter of 2024 reached a record high of 4.1 gigawatt hours, making it one of Tesla's fastest-growing businesses. The gross profit of energy storage business increased by 140% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024.
Tesla founder Elon Musk stated during the Q4 2023 earnings conference call, "For many years, I have predicted that the growth rate of energy storage business will be much faster than that of electric vehicle business. It is being realized." Currently, Tesla's Megapack energy storage system is continuously helping countries around the world, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, to develop new energy and address the shortage of traditional fossil fuels. Musk said that the future of renewable energy depends on large-scale energy storage. The Tesla Megapack energy storage system can support low-cost, high-density utility and commercial projects on a scale of up to gigabwatt hours. Flexibility is also a major feature of Megapack energy storage systems, as it can be integrated and installed with battery modules, inverters, and temperature systems at any time, helping the power grid operate more stably and sustainably. Megapack batteries can also be updated in real-time through OTA air upgrades, continuously optimizing functionality.
According to Bloomberg's prediction, the global market demand for energy storage batteries will reach 1000 gigawatt hours by 2030, with a market size of 1.2 trillion US dollars.