Dive Brief:
Tesla is on track to triple its 2018 energy storage deployments the company said in its third quarter letter to investors.
The company’s “historic” quarterly results included a 70% increase in quarter-over-quarter revenues and $312 million in net income, according to the letter.
Tesla installed 239 MWh of energy storage in the third quarter, an 18% increase from the prior quarter and a 118% increase from third quarter of last year. The company also deployed 93 MW of solar — an 11% increase from the prior quarter — and expects to ramp up production of its Solar Roof product in the first half of 2019.
Dive Insight:
Tesla’s third quarter is stoking hopes among investors that the company might be on a path to sustainable profitability.
Tesla increased both production and margins of its Model 3 electric vehicle, which was again the best selling U.S. car in September by a wide margin based on revenue.
While some analysts expressed concern that the quarter’s performance could be short-lived because the company could just be selling its high margin cars to boost near term earnings, analyst Gene Munster at Loup Ventures told Reuters, “the company is on track to generate enough cash to meet its $1.7 billion debt obligations.”
Though the news took a backseat to the company’s EV business, Tesla also saw higher revenues and better profitability in its energy business in the third quarter, which might have been “the best quarter ever for solar,” CEO Elon Musk told investors on an earnings conference call.
Tesla said most of its new solar energy orders now come from the its website and stores rather than through third-party channels, which has helped to “significantly lower our customer acquisition costs.”
The company’s energy division sells battery storage devices, such as the Powerwall, and residential solar systems, such as its Solar Roof product.
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