Why all major companies are entering the energy market

First Tesla, then Ford, and now GM — almost all auto giants are trying to get their share of the energy storage market. The reason is simple: although electric vehicle (EV) sales in the US have slowed down slightly, stationary battery sales have doubled in the last two years, and this growth shows no signs of stopping. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, annual installation capacity will exceed 110 GWh by 2030, which is double today's figure. This is reported by Techcrunch.com .

Kurt Kelty, GM's Vice President of Batteries and Sustainable Development, emphasized in an interview with TechCrunch that the potential of this market is very high. The company recently introduced a brand-new sodium-ion battery chemistry aimed at capturing the core of the market. This rapid growth of the energy storage market is driven by the convergence of three major trends.

The most obvious reason is the expansion of data centers serving AI systems. The energy demand of these centers is expected to nearly triple by the end of the decade. At the same time, major sectors of the economy such as transportation, manufacturing, and HVAC systems are being fully electrified. According to Kelty, even without data centers, significant growth is being observed in this sector.

Not only automakers but also startups are investing heavily in this market. For example, Base Power raised $1 billion in October, and Lunar Energy raised $232 million. For now, Tesla leads the market: last year, 82% of the 57 GWh of installed capacity came from this company. For Tesla, the gross margin in the energy storage segment is 30%, which is several times higher than the profit from traditional car sales.

GM plans to have its sodium-ion cells ready by the end of the decade. The company is working on developing a family of batteries specifically tailored for this market. Although Tesla currently controls the market, the intensification of competition signals a new technological revolution in the energy sector.