A Tesla Megapack battery at the Harmony Energy Ltd. and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures BV battery energy storage project near Burgess Hill, England, May 11, 2021.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tesla is expanding ties with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, striking a deal to buy $4.3 billion worth of battery cells for energy storage systems that will be made in Lansing, Michigan.
The plant was formerly developed for a joint venture between LG and General Motors before the automaker decided to retreat from that initiative in late-2024, selling its stake to LG as part of a pullback in the automaker’s electric vehicle investments.
While Tesla still makes most of its revenue from EVs, the company is investing in its more rapidly growing energy business, as data centers drive up electricity demand. Tesla’s Megapacks can store power produced using intermittent sources like solar or wind, or during off-peak hours, then make it available for use when demand is high.
Tesla currently sells Powerwall backup batteries for residential use with its solar installations, and much larger Megapack and Megablock systems for utility-scale power storage. Last year, revenue in the company’s energy segment increased 27% to $12.8 billion, accounting for 13% of total revenue. Total revenue dropped due to a 10% decline in the auto business.
Details of the Tesla-LG partnership were announced during an Indo-Pacific Energy Security Summit in Japan, according to a release from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Trump administration announced a total of $56 billion in private sector commitments at the event.
A spokesman with LG Energy Solution said the company “will establish dedicated production lines at our Lansing facility to deliver on this agreement.” LG last year retooled the facility to build LFP (lithium iron phosphate) prismatic cells, later confirming a $4.3 billion deal with an unnamed company.
GM continues to have a significant presence in and around the Lansing battery plant, but the company has largely retrenched from the EV market, announcing $7.6 billion in related write-downs.
Tesla, meanwhile, expects its energy business to “have very high growth for as far into the future as we can imagine,” CEO Elon Musk said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in January. Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja cautioned that the energy segment expects “margin compression” from low-cost competition and the cost of tariffs.
Tesla’s competition includes companies like BYD in China and climate-tech startups like Form, which is making iron-air batteries, and others.
WATCH: Why the EV factory boom in the U.S. south is suddenly in trouble
