Fearing The Wrong Tesla In India? Storage Business Could Be Tesla’s Surprise Winner

Entry into the Indian market for Tesla’s EVs has occupied most media inches, with many local auto players fearing a bloodbath. But if and when it hits the ground in India, Elon Musk might find a different opportunity in India. With a massive energy storage target officially, and much more demand locally and in the C&I segment, Tesla’s storage batteries might have a better run than its cars in India, considering the risk of restrictions on Chinese imports progressively.

If that happens, India would be closer to the Australian market for the US giant. It crossed the $ 5 billion mark in in revenues in Australia in calendar 2024, with its battery division overtaking EV sales for the first time.

Overall revenues rose over 30% to $5.1 billion in 2024 in Australia last year.

Revenue from storage battery sales, including grid scale and household, rose to a record $2.55 billion, as compared to $580 million in 2023. The rest of the 5.1 billion came from EVs.

Australia is where Tesla installed its first “big battery” at Hornsdale in 2017, in a demonstration of both its ability to install it quickly and provide a solution to South Australia’s grid challenges. The success of Hornsdale opened up Australia to a rush of renewables and lately, large batteries as well, as the continent sized country looks to balance the intermittency of renewables with storage.

With its biggest competitors in both storage and EVs coming from the Chinese, Tesla might enjoy a run in India for its batteries, as the market for its electric vehicles will remain limited even after tariff cuts, as Indian buyers continue to shift to EV’s very slowly when it comes to the passenger vehicle segment.  But when it comes to energy storage, a drop in process and the Tesla name could work wonders with many buyers at households as well as corporates, who will look at behind the meter options to better manage their power bills and energy security.