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Whatever your thoughts on him, no one can accuse Elon Musk of not being future-focused.

Back in February 2017, Elon Musk's company Tesla Motors did something unthinkable – it dropped the "Motors" part of the name and became Tesla Inc. While it wasn’t as shocking as Musk renaming Twitter to X, it did raise eyebrows. "Motors" was core to Tesla’s identity – they made cars, after all.

And no, Tesla’s car business wasn’t in trouble. Quite the opposite. The company was thriving, with sales of the Tesla Model S outpacing its next two competitors combined in the latest reported quarter.

So, why the change?

Musk always saw Tesla as a company of the future, not just a carmaker. Even back then, he was thinking beyond cars, diving into AI, robotics, self-sustaining homes, and other futuristic ideas. But he realized all these advancements were bottle-necked by one key piece: energy storage. Solving that problem was a huge opportunity – and Musk was determined to make it happen.

Tesla Energy

If there was one moment that really showed Tesla’s leadership in the energy storage vision Musk had, it was the launch of the Powerwall – a home battery that let Americans turn their homes into self-sustaining energy hubs.

You see, the big problem with those solar panels on people’s houses is that they don’t work at night or on cloudy days, so you still have to rely on the grid. The Powerwall changed that. It let people store unused solar energy during the day to use at night. It also helped cut electricity bills during peak hours and could even serve as a backup generator during blackouts.

Tesla launched the Powerwall and Powerpack (its commercial version) at an event in Los Angeles on April 30, 2015. Not coincidentally, about a year later, Gigafactory 1 in Nevada went live. Its main job? Making battery cells for Tesla's EVs, Powerwall, and Powerpack to keep up with growing demand.

This was a big milestone for Tesla, aimed at securing its spot not just in the growing EV market but in energy storage, too. With initial costs of around $5 billion, the Gigafactory was unmatched in scale, ambition, and focus on lithium-ion battery production. The rest is history. Musk's Tesla went on to build five more Gigafactories around the world, with three of them right here in the U.S. and one currently under construction in Mexico.

Elon Musk didn’t pour billions into these massive Gigafactories for nothing. In 2023, Tesla overtook Sungrow to become the world’s largest producer in the battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market, grabbing a 15% share. And it’s no wonder.

From 2015, when the first Gigafactory opened, Tesla's energy storage deployments shot up from just 0.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to an incredible 14.7 GWh in 2023. The growth is a classic hockey stick curve – clear proof of Tesla’s impact.

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You can see in the graph above that 2024 was another record-breaking year for Tesla, with 31.4 GWh of energy storage products deployed. That’s a massive 114% jump from the 14.7 GWh deployed in 2023.

From Energy to Robotics

And if you want a sense of where Tesla is headed, just check out the chart below. It shows how revenue from energy generation and storage is becoming a bigger and bigger slice of Tesla’s overall business.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The bottom line? Tesla’s energy products, including the Powerwall, tap into the rising demand for energy storage solutions – and its advancements are only set to grow. And with the 2023 launch of the Powerwall 3, Tesla is truly making energy storage truly mainstream. I say “making” because while it debuted in the U.S. in 2023, it didn’t roll out to the rest of the world until late 2024.

The Powerwall 3 simplifies installation, lowers costs, and delivers a significant power boost—11.5 kW continuous and 30 kW peak – making it ideal for homes with higher energy demands.

For people everywhere, it offers the promise of no more bills, no more blackouts, and no more pollution. Instead of relying on coal or natural gas, you simply use what the sun provides.

Want to run your air conditioner all day during a blazing summer afternoon? Go for it. No need to stress about soaring bills or, if you’re the eco-friendly type, harming the environment. Plus, if you generate more solar energy than you use, you could even sell the extra back to the grid and make some money.

Innovations like these offer real solutions to energy security and national security concerns. But Tesla’s vision for your home doesn’t stop with energy. Musk’s next frontier for Tesla is robotics.

In October 2024, Tesla unveiled its Optimus Gen 2 humanoid robot at its We Robot event. Tesla’s vision for Optimus includes capabilities like household chores, cleaning, organizing, managing your home, and even gardening.

I’ll probably dive deeper into this in future issues, but here’s what you need to know for now: Musk predicts that Optimus robots will become a part of everyday life, with every human owning one in the near future.

Shortly after the (We Robot) event, Musk famously stated, “I think by 2040, there will probably be more humanoid robots than there are people.” With Tesla now the world’s largest producer of battery energy storage systems, it’s clear Musk expects many of these robots to be built by Tesla.

That’s exactly what I mean when I say Tesla isn’t just a car company – it’s the company of the future.

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