Tesla Megapack changes lanes to LFP batteries

Foreign media reported that Tesla is changing its Megapack energy storage products to LFP batteries. Megapack is Tesla’s largest battery storage product to date, with a maximum energy capacity of 3MWh per unit, making it one of the largest energy storage systems on the market. Tesla pointed out that Megapack requires 40% less space than systems currently on the market, and parts are reduced by 10 times. Switching to LFP batteries, on the one hand, the production cost of Megapack will drop. Considering that Tesla tends to pass on its cost savings to consumers through price adjustments, grid-scale batteries may eventually become more affordable. On the other hand, it can alleviate the tight supply of nickel demand. Musk said in February, 'Nickel is our most worrying issue in the production of lithium-ion batteries. That's why we have to replace the standard mileage version of electric vehicles with LFP batteries.' Tesla's 2020 energy storage battery installation total The volume was 3.02GWh, a year-on-year increase of 83%. This increase is largely due to the popularity of its utility-scale energy storage product Megapack. At the end of March, foreign media reported that Apple’s energy storage project in California used 85 Tesla Megapack energy storage battery packs at a purchase price of US$50 million (approximately RMB 330 million). The market demand is strong and the supply is in short supply. In January of this year, Tesla again raised the price of its home battery pack Powerwall in the United States, from $7,000 to $7,500. Last October, Tesla increased the price of Powerwall in the US from US$6,500 to US$7,000. 'We have been producing Powerwall for many years, and the gross profit margin is already good, while Megapack gross profit still has a lot of room to rise.' Tesla said in the first quarter of 2021 earnings conference call that it will further deploy Megapack. Musk pointed out that Tesla's goal is to achieve a comparable profit margin between its electric vehicles and energy products. It was also mentioned that Tesla will have a way to improve Megapack's cost per MWh. In the first quarter, Tesla's energy generation and storage revenue was US$494 million, an increase of 69% from US$293 million in the same period last year. If Tesla's LFP version of Megapack products are mass-produced and applied, the sales and gross profit of its energy storage business will be further improved.