Tesla Energy Generation And Storage Business: Q1 2021 Results

Tesla Energy sales up, but costs are higher than revenues.

Tesla Discreetly Increases Powerwall 2 Price by $400

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Apr 27, 2021 at 8:25am ET

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Tesla Energy business is expanding on both fronts - energy storage and solar, but profitability is a different story.

In Q1, Tesla Energy revenues amounted to $494 million, while the cost of revenues stands at $595 million. In other words, just like in the previous quarter, Tesla Energy is in the red. The difference is negative $101 million and a gross margin of negative 20%.

Tesla Energy accounted for close to 4.8% of the total revenues in the quarter.

Tesla energy storage deployed – Q1 2021

Total battery energy storage (Powerwall, Powerpack and Megapacks) deliveries increased to:

445 MWh (up 71% year-over-year)

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In Q1, the main engine of growth was the Powerwall (home energy storage system). Demand is so high that Tesla now sells Powerwalls only in combination with solar installations.

"Energy storage deployments grew 71% YoY in Q1, mainly driven by the popularity of Powerwall. Demand for Powerwall continues to far exceed our production rate. As a result, we recently shifted Powerwall deliveries to solar customers only. As we increase our production rate, we may make it available once again as a stand-alone product. The recent snowstorm in Texas and other blackout events continue to drive customers toward home energy storage solutions."

Overall demand for ESS remains high:

"Energy storage deployments can vary meaningfully quarter to quarter depending on the timing of specific project milestones, which is the driver behind the sequential decline in MWh. Production of energy storage products improved further sequentially as our backlog remains long."

Tesla offers three types of ESS products:

Powerwall for home installations (13.5 kWh usable / 7 kW peak / 5 kW continuous per unit)
Powerpack for commercial installations (Up to 232 kWh / Up to 130 kW per unit)
Megapack (3 MWh units the largest project by utilities)

Tesla Discreetly Increases Powerwall 2 Price by $400

Tesla Powerwall

Tesla Powerpack To Charge Up Europe's Largest Community, Battery Project In Nottingham

Tesla Powerpack

Tesla Megapack Puts Powerpack In Large Packages

Tesla Megapack

Tesla solar deployed – Q1 2021

Total solar installations (conventional panels and Solar Roof) deliveries are growing:

92 MW (up 163% year-over-year)

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Tesla's solar solutions:

Tesla Solar Panels

Panasonic Starts Making Cells For Tesla Solar Roof At Gigafactory 2 (w/video)

Tesla Solar Roof

Solarglass Roof

Tesla explains that the solar installations are growing and the Solar Roof specifically is expanding 9x year-over-year, however it's a very challenging product.

What do you think?

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"Solar deployments reached 92 MW in Q1 our strongest quarter in 2.5 years. Solar
Roof deployments grew 9x compared to the same period last year"

Solar Roof is produced at the Gigafactory 2 in New York.