Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
Tesla
The Austin-based carmaker that is also, by 2026, one of the world's largest makers of grid batteries. Tesla's energy story has three parts. First, its cars are a demand for electricity and batteries: ~1.64m vehicles delivered in 2025 (company), each with a ~50–100 kWh pack, built on cells from Panasonic's lines in its Nevada Gigafactory, from CATL and LG Energy Solution, and increasingly from its own lines. Second, Tesla Energy — Powerwall home batteries (from 2015), Megapack grid batteries (from 2019) and the solar business it inherited by buying SolarCity in 2016 — deployed a record ~46.7 GWh of storage in 2025 and ~36.0 GWh in the first nine months of 2026 (company), on ~110 GWh a year of Megapack factory capacity in California, Shanghai and Texas. Third, its Supercharger network became the North American standard (NACS, now SAE J3400) when Ford, GM and almost every other carmaker adopted Tesla's connector in 2023. Its autonomy, robotaxi and xAI story is told in the AI knowledge base (AI: Tesla); this file covers the energy side, and the end of the US 30D consumer credit after 30 Sep 2025, which removed the subsidy its US car sales had leaned on.
At a glance
- Founded
- Jul 2003, San Carlos, California, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning; Elon Musk led the 2004 Series A, became chair and, in Oct 2008, CEO; JB Straubel and Ian Wright also counted as co-founders after a 2009 settlement (as in the AI profile)
- Headquarters
- Austin, Texas (Giga Texas) since Dec 2021; reincorporated in Texas (Jun 2024)
- Ownership / structure
- Public (Nasdaq: TSLA, IPO 29 Jun 2010 at $17/share, ~$226m raised, reported); Musk ~13% plus options (reported, verify)
- Leadership (2026)
- Elon Musk (CEO); Vaibhav Taneja (CFO); Robyn Denholm (chair); Mike Snyder led Tesla Energy for most of 2020–25 (reported, verify current title)
- Segment
- EVs and charging; storage and batteries; residential solar; retail electricity (Tesla Electric, Texas)
- Scale (2025)
- Deliveries 1,636,129 vehicles (−8.6% y/y, second straight decline); storage deployed 46.7 GWh (record; 31.4 GWh in 2024); energy generation and storage revenue ~$12.8bn (+~27%), ~13% of revenue (company, via coverage)
- 2026 to date
- Storage deployed 8.8 GWh (Q1), 13.5 GWh (Q2), 13.7 GWh (Q3); Q3 deliveries 486,532 vehicles; Q3 revenue ~$28.05bn, GAAP net income ~$787m, operating margin ~2.6%; Q3 energy revenue ~$2.88bn (−16% y/y after a ~$339m tariff-refund reduction), segment gross margin ~33% helped by one-off tariff refunds; cash and investments ~$45.5bn; Q3 capex ~$4.7bn (company, Q3 update 21 Oct 2026, via coverage)
- Energy factories
- Gigafactory Nevada (cells with Panasonic since 2017; Tesla's own LFP cell line, ~7 GWh/yr, first Megapacks shipped Q3 2026); Megafactory Lathrop, California (~40 GWh/yr); Shanghai Megafactory (~20 GWh/yr, from Q1 2025); Megafactory Texas near Houston (~50 GWh/yr planned, Megapack 3 production from Aug 2026, reported) (company, via coverage)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- The Roadster and the Master Plan (2006); Gigafactory Nevada with Panasonic (2014); SolarCity and the Delaware suit (2016); Model 3 production hell (2017–18); Megapack and the Lathrop Megafactory (2019–22); Giga Shanghai (2019); the 2023 price cuts; NACS and the Supercharger network (2023); the 2024–25 delivery decline, the end of 30D and the storage pivot (2024–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2006
Master Plan and the Roadster
Founding / technology bet
2014
Gigafactory Nevada with Panasonic
Construction / supply contract (joint factory)
2016
SolarCity Acquisition and the Delaware Suit
Acquisition / related-party transaction; later shareholder litigation
2018
Model 3 Production Hell
Construction and production ramp (near-failure)
2019
Giga Shanghai
Construction / market entry
2019
Megapack and the Lathrop Megafactory
Technology bet / construction
2023
NACS and the Supercharger Network
Standard-setting / offtake (charging access deals)
2023
Price Cuts and the Margin Trade
Strategy pivot (pricing)
2024
Delivery Decline and the Storage Pivot
Policy shock / strategy pivot (resource shift to storage and US cell supply)