Posted on 06 Jun 2024
BYD’s FinDreams Powertrain has reportedly reached an energy storage cell supply agreement with Tesla Shanghai for its Megapack factory.
According to Chinese media outlet Late Post, the agreement was signed in March and supplies will begin in the first quarter of 2025. Citing unnamed sources close to BYD, the report on Wednesday says that FinDreams’ supply ratio exceeds 20%.
The report estimates the order is worth about CNY 3.5 billion ($483 million) per year based on market prices, the supply ratio, and the plant’s planned 40 gigawatt-hours production capacity.
“BYD has offered Tesla the best price, which is close to the cost line,” the report quoted the source as saying.
Kallanish has contacted the companies for comment.
The Megapack factory, adjacent to the Giga Shanghai, is the first of its kind built by Tesla outside the US. Construction started last month, and operations are expected to begin in Q1 2025, with an initial capacity of 10,000 Megapack units/year. Each energy storage unit has a capacity of 3.9 megawatt-hours. The systems can be scaled for commercial energy storage projects.
To date, Tesla’s energy storage business portfolio in China has been dominated by Megapack products, with its home battery product, known as Powerwall, only accounting for 20% of revenues. It’s unclear whether the new factory will expand Powerwall sales in the region.
The energy storage business has become Tesla’s new growth focus, with falling EV sales and lower profit margins. In Q1 this year, Teslas’ energy storage business’ gross profit margin reached 25%, 9.5 percentage points higher than its vehicle business.
According to Tesla’s website, the company has deployed over 10 GWh of Megapacks globally.
Source:Kallanish
