Some power companies admitted that they are taking Tesla Energy, the automaker’s energy division, seriously.
They appear to be nervous about Tesla’s Autobidder software.
Over the last few years, Tesla has started to offer new ‘Energy Plans’ to offer low electricity rates with solar and Powerwall-powered virtual power plants in some markets.
It’s part of Elon Musk’s vision for Tesla Energy to become a distributed global utility, and it could even outgrow its automotive business.
Tesla’s energy business still represents a fraction of its automotive business, and in the broader energy market, it is a small player.
Yet, when it enters a new market, Tesla gets noticed.
A new report from Handelsblatt states that several power companies in Germany are taking Tesla’s new entry into the local electricity market seriously:
“We take Tesla very seriously and watch exactly what they are up to,” says one of the major German electricity companies.
Without naming names, the report also quotes another energy company being especially worried by Autobidder:
In an interview with the business magazine Handelsblatt , a representative of an energy company confessed: “Just as Tesla changed the rules of the game in the automotive sector, we also trust them to disrupt the energy market” – and this is mainly due to software called “Autobidder”, which Tesla used
Last year, Electrek spotted a previously unknown new product from Tesla: Autobidder.
It’s a real-time trading and control platform for energy assets, like Tesla’s Powerpacks, Powerwalls, and Megapacks, optimized through machine learning to better use and more directly monetize the assets.
As of earlier this year, Tesla Autobidder now has over 1.2 GWh of energy storage under management.
Klaus Kreutzer, a German energy market expert, commented on Tesla’s entry into the German energy market and said that its brand power could be significant:
“If the company starts to put together large bundles, it will become a serious player on the electricity market. Established suppliers can no longer get hold of customers who have been tied to Tesla for so long. The brand alone is already pulling.”
For now, Tesla is only deploying its energy plan in the south of Germany, but it could expand quickly.
The company is also expected to bring its solar roof products to Europe in the coming years.
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