Tesla’s cars may be in charge, but its batteries are in the fast lane

Tesla unveiled its newest energy storage product, the Megapack, as its battery business continues to grow.

While we’ve all been distracted by Elon Musk’s increasingly bizarre tweets, Tesla has been hard at work behind the scenes building something that has nothing to do with cars: Megapack

Tesla’s cars may be in charge, but its batteries are in the fast lane

It’s a giant battery that will provide energy for power grids

Currently, most local power grids rely on “peaker plants” — which are powered by natural gas — to provide extra juice during moments of peak demand for power.

Megapack is designed as a sustainable alternative to existing peaker plants that stores and then distributes clean solar and wind energy instead of dirty natural gases.

Tesla tested the technology that went into Megapacks in a massive experiment facility in Australia, and that facility saved more than $40m in its first year of operation. 

It’s the latest power-pack in Tesla’s booming battery business

Tesla’s energy storage division already offers 2 other products: Residential-scale Powerwall storage systems and commercial-scale Powerpack systems.

Last quarter, these 2 existing energy storage products accounted for $368m in revenue, a small chunk of Tesla’s $6.4B in overall revenue.

But the number of Powerwalls — and the amount of energy they crank out — is sharply on the rise: There are now 50k Powerwalls installed, and the amount of energy Tesla’s energy systems produced increased 81% last quarter.

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