Why does everyone want a piece of Tesla's battery business

The stationary battery business has become one of the most attractive sectors at the moment While electric vehicle sales have stagnated in the United States, large battery installations for energy storage have doubled in the last two years and show no signs of stopping.

Traditional automakers like Ford and now General Motors (GM) want to grab their share of this pie that Tesla dominates with an iron fist The main reason is the boom in data centers for artificial intelligence, which multiplies the demand for electricity.

Energy demand from these data centers is expected to nearly triple by the end of the decade. But that's not all: more and more sectors such as transportation, manufacturing, and HVAC systems are also being electrified.

The current dominance of Tesla

Tesla takes the largest share of the market Of the total installed last year, about 57 gigawatt-hours, Elon Musk's company was responsible for 82%. Its revenue from energy generation and storage has doubled since 2023, driven by products like Megapack and Powerwall.

Moreover, profit margins in this segment hover around 30%, double what it earns with electric cars and much more than the average of traditional automakers GM, for example, averages just over 11% in the last 15 years.

Despite the potential, GM is not rushing. Just on Tuesday, it unveiled a new sodium-ion battery chemistry specifically designed for this market. The product won't be ready until later this decade.

The advantages of sodium-ion technology

GM executives emphasize that sodium-ion uses cheap and abundant materials, does not require active cooling systems, and supports many more charge and discharge cycles than lithium Additionally, it avoids dependence on supply chains controlled by China, as is the case with cobalt.