Tesla’s Australian arm flipped its profit engine last year, with home batteries and grid-scale energy products overtaking electric vehicles as its biggest revenue source. Local financial filings show total revenue and profit for the year to December 31 declined, even as demand for storage systems rose.
Accounts lodged by Tesla Motors Australia reveal a 19% fall in profits from its local operations over the year. Revenue also slipped, dragged down by a 25% drop in Australian Tesla vehicle sales.
Data from the Electric Vehicle Council shows Tesla deliveries fell to 28,856 cars in 2024, down from 38,347 the year before. At the same time, revenue from Powerwall-style home batteries and large grid-scale storage systems grew enough to eclipse income from its electric vehicles business.
Chinese rival BYD moved decisively in the opposite direction in Australia’s EV market. BYD sold 52,000 vehicles locally last year, almost double Tesla’s tally, according to the industry body.
Petrol prices have surged on the back of the war in Iran, and that shock has pushed more drivers towards EVs overall. Most of those incremental buyers are choosing BYD rather than Tesla, at least for now.
Market data for March shows how wide the gap has become between the two brands in Australia. BYD ranked as the country’s third-best-selling car brand of any fuel type that month, with 7217 vehicles sold.
Tesla sat back in 13th place on 3485 sales, a stark change from its former dominance. Tesla’s Australian growth now looks increasingly tied to energy storage and large-scale grid projects, while BYD pushes harder into the mass-market electric car segment.
