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Tesla deployed 13.7 GWh of storage in Q3, up 10%, but analysts expected roughly 15.9 GWh, Electrek reported. Its 10-Q cites Megapack tariff refunds and a lower average selling price per unit.
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A Tesla Megapack installation, from the company's Megapack page. The photo is illustrative and not tied to a specific Q3 2026 deployment.
Image: Tesla
Source · Press image from the Tesla website, used for news reporting.
Tesla's energy generation and storage revenue fell 16% year over year to $2.88 billion in the third quarter of 2026, even though it deployed 13.7 GWh of storage, up 10%, according to Electrek's reading of the company's shareholder letter.
Energy revenue was $534 million lower in Q3 2026, even as deployments rose 10% to 13.7 GWh, per Tesla's 10-Q and Electrek.
Illustration (AI-generated)
Tesla's quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission puts the drop at $534 million. It says the decrease was primarily due to tariff refunds for certain Megapack customers and a lower average selling price per Megapack unit. Fewer Powerwall deployments and fewer solar retrofit cash deployments also weighed on the segment, partly offset by more Megapack deployments. The shareholder letter blames the decline only "partially" on tariff-related customer refunds, Electrek noted.
Tesla has not said how much it refunded, or to which customers. Electrek's guess is that some storage buyers paid tariff charges that Tesla no longer owed after the US Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs in February. That is Electrek's reading, not a Tesla statement.
The quarter shows volume and revenue moving in opposite directions for the largest US supplier of grid-scale batteries. Deployments rose 10%, yet Tesla's 10-Q says the average selling price per Megapack fell. For utilities and data-center developers buying storage, that is a sign of price pressure on turnkey systems. For investors, it means gigawatt-hour growth no longer translates one-for-one into segment revenue.
Deployments also missed expectations. Electrek reported that analysts had expected roughly 15.9 GWh for the quarter, against the 13.7 GWh delivered.
Energy gross margin rose to 33.1%, from 31.4% a year earlier, according to the 10-Q. Electrek put the previous quarter at 20.4%. The filing says cost of revenue for the segment fell 18% to $1,927 million, helped by favorable tariff refunds and a lower average cost per Megapack. Gross profit was still lower than a year ago, at $954 million against $1.07 billion, Electrek reported.
Year to date, Tesla has deployed 36.0 GWh of storage through the third quarter. Energy revenue for the nine months was $8.43 billion, down 6%, or $506 million, the filing shows.
Tesla says storage demand is at its highest-ever order rate and backlog, driven by data centers that need power faster than the grid can supply it, according to Electrek. It cited one customer: xAI, now part of SpaceX, bought another $269 million of Megapacks this year after $430 million of purchases from Tesla in 2025.
The company's new Texas plant and its cell supply were covered separately, as Voltgrid reported.
Tesla has not quantified the tariff refunds, so it is not possible to separate their effect from the lower Megapack selling price. It has also not explained why the refunds were booked as lower revenue. Whether the margin gain came mainly from refunds or from lower unit costs is likewise not broken out. The next quarterly report will show whether revenue per GWh recovers once the refunds roll off.
