Speaking candidly about global energy trends, the head of one of the world’s most influential electric vehicle companies shared his views on China’s rapid progress in clean energy and storage technologies.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, recently appeared on the Moonshots podcast, where he spoke about data centre energy needs and the growing role of batteries. During the conversation, Musk made a light-hearted remark about China’s pace of execution, saying, “It seems like China listens to everything I say, and does it basically or they’re just doing it independently.”
He added, “I don’t know, but they certainly have a massive battery pack output, they’re making a vast number of electric cars, and vast amounts of solar.” Musk followed this by saying, “These are all the things I said we should do here.”
His comments underline China’s scale in electric vehicles, batteries, and solar power. According to available data, China produced 13 million electric vehicles in 2024, reflecting 70% year-over-year growth since 2020. The country also accounts for 69% of the global EV battery market, led by companies such as CATL and BYD.
Musk has often posted on X about the need for wider adoption of solar energy. In 2024, he warned that China’s solar power generation was expanding so rapidly that it could exceed the entire electricity output of the United States within 4 years.
When asked about solutions to rising energy demand in the AI era, Musk said, “the best way to actually increase the energy output per year of the United States or any country is batteries.” He explained, “Peak power output of the US is around 1.1 terawatts, but the average power usage is only half a terawatt. So if you just buffer the energy, charge up the batteries at night, discharge during the day without incremental capital expenditures, without building new power plants, you can double the energy throughput of the US.”
When the host asked whether such batteries already exist, Musk replied, “yeah, Tesla makes them,” referring to Megapacks. Megapack is a utility-scale battery system designed to store energy, stabilise power grids, and prevent outages. Musk’s AI company, xAI, has deployed 168 Megapacks at its data centre in South Memphis, Tennessee. In September 2025, Tesla also introduced Megablock, a configuration of 4 Megapack 3 units capable of storing 20 megawatt-hours, enough to power around 4,000 homes for 4 hours.
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