Gary Zhou 
Key Points
- 🏭 Tesla’s Lathrop Megafactory in California is actively producing Megapack batteries, with a recent drone flyover revealing a fleet of 332 Megapacks in staging areas.
- 🔋 The Megapack, designed for grid use, has been deployed successfully in significant projects, showcasing its potential to disrupt the energy sector.
- 💰 The estimated value of the 332 Megapacks is over $500 million, indicating the substantial economic impact of Tesla’s energy business.
- 📈 Tesla Energy is becoming a significant and high-margin part of Tesla’s business, contributing over half a billion dollars to quarterly profit, according to CEO Elon Musk during the Q3 2023 earnings call.
- 🔄 The Lathrop Megafactory is expected to reach a full capacity of 40 GWh with its phase two expansion, with a target output of 10,000 Megapack batteries annually.
The fourth quarter is past its midway point, and Tesla’s Megafactory in Lathrop, California, seems like it’s still going full speed ahead. During a recent drone flyover of the site, a fleet of 332 Megapack batteries was spotted in the facility’s staging areas.
The Tesla Megapack may not be as visually compelling as the Cybertruck or the Model 3 Highland, but it is a key product in Tesla’s portfolio. Designed for grid use, the Megapack has the potential to disrupt the energy sector. The battery has been performing well so far, as it has been deployed successfully in high-profile projects like the 182 MW/730 MWh battery farm in Moss Landing, California, and the 150 MW/300 MWh system in New South Wales, Australia.
The Megapack is available in two variants: a 2-hour version that offers 1.9 MW of power and 3.9 MWh of energy and a 4-hour variant that features 1 MW of power and 3.9 MWh of energy. The grid-scale battery is priced at $1,908,590 for the four-hour variant with installation and $2,123,590 for the two-hour variant with installation. Without installation charges, the Megapack is priced at $1,321,390 for the two-hour variant and $1,270,310 for the four-hour version.
A drone flyover from Met God in Wilderness, who has been chronicling the developments of the Lathrop Megafactory for some time now, shows that the facility is still producing large numbers of the battery. The drone operator’s footage showed 258 Megapack batteries at the staging area across the Megafactory at the time of the flyover, and another 74 could be seen within the facility’s premises. That’s a total of 332 Megapacks at the time of Thursday’s flyover. Tesla watchers estimate that such a number of Megapacks are worth over $500 million.
The sighting of the Megapack batteries at the Lathrop Megafactory comes as Tesla Energy is becoming a growing portion of the company’s business, and one of its highest-margin too. During the Q3 2023 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk noted that “the Energy division is becoming (Tesla’s) highest-margin business. Energy and service now contribute over half a billion to quarterly profit.”
The Lathrop Megafactory is expected to have a full capacity of 40 GWh with its phase two expansion. The facility also has a target output of 10,000 Megapack batteries annually.
Watch the recent flyover of the Tesla Lathrop Megafactory in the video below.
