Tesla Postpones Semi Truck To 2022, Shows A Profit On Battery and Solar

EV Poster firm, Tesla has just announced its second quarter (Q2) quarterly results. The firm, with an oversized presence and impact in the EV segment has shared some key metrics for its solar and energy storage business this time. In fact, even as it has postponed the launch of its electric trucks, the Semi Truck to 2022, the firm claims that but for shortage of chips, its storage business would have been even stronger this past quarter.

The firm declared $12 billion in revenues, with a net income of $1.14 billion. The solar and storage business accounted for $801 million topline. This includes its three main offerings here: solar, its Powerwall storage device for homes and businesses, and its year old utility storage unit Megapack. Not only has this group grown 62% in revenues over the previous quarter, it has also turned profitable. Total cost of of the business according to Tesla was $781 million.

Driving this growth was the deployment of 1,274 megawatt-hours of energy storage, a 205% increase from the same period last year. Solar energy installs (mostly rooftop) in the second quarter of this year crossed 85 MWh, up 214% from Q2 2020. Tesla has indicated that several Megapack projects and the growing popularity of its combined solar and Powerwall product have helped too. A Megapack is about $1.2 million before taxes. Tesla has been taking advance orders on these, with some deliveries even pushed back to 2023, thanks to the global semiconductor chip shortage. Tesla has prioritised supplies for its vehicles over the batteries so far.

Tesla founder Elon Musk has indicated the firm will look at powering some of its products with batteries using lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry. Especially most stationary storage. Moving away from  nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) and nickel-cobalt-aluminum batteries has been an issue for most Lithium battery manufacturers due to the issues with sourcing and price volatility of these materials.