Tesla is not a car company

I've been saying that Tesla is not a car company for many years.

The car is admittedly an essential moving piece (pun intended) of their business, but it's only the product. Tesla is, first and foremost, an energy company monetized with high-end electric cars.

Their crucial differentiator from Mercedes or VW is their control of the energy side. Their vast network of superchargers they have deployed and actively maintain and the humongous battery factories they have invested in are, at this point, their highest sunk cost and business assets. And let's not forget about their Powerwall, a powerful solution for storing your home's solar energy (and recharging your car).

Because Tesla is also a platform company, every part of its business is interconnected with a software layer. This means they can update their physical products overnight with new capabilities, such as connecting the Powerwall customers to a virtual solar power plant.

Tesla Pays Powerwall Owners to Form ‘Virtual Power Plant’ in California - Slashdot
“Tesla has launched a new virtual power plant in partnership with PG&E in California that will pay Powerwalls owners to help stabilize the electric grid and end brownouts in California,” reports Electrek. A virtual power plant (VPP) consists of distributed energy storage systems, like Tesla Pow…

But let's go back to the cars.

The car themselves constitute the most connected layer of this platform. The layer can be reconfigured the fastest by software updates. And they have been more than two million units sold since 2009. This is as many batteries in our cities.

Think about it, what's the next step for an energy company?


Edit, May-June 2023 - I told you so? 😎

VW subsidiary Electrify America to add Tesla connectors to EV charging network
Electrify America said it will add Tesla’s North American Charging Standard to its fast charging networks by 2025.
Ford partners with Tesla to give customers access to EV Superchargers | CNN Business
Ford EV owners in the US can use the Ford’s mobile app to use Tesla’s 12,000 Supercharger stations, the company’s name for its fast charging stations, starting next year, announced Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

And in the end, the network effect wins...