Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently appeared on the Moonshots podcast where he jokingly says that China goes everything he says. Discussing energy usage of data centres and reliance on batteries to meet power needs, Musk said “It seems like China listens to everything I say, and does it basically or they’re just doing it independently.” “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,” he stated, adding “These are all the things I said we should do here”. Musk’s comments underscores China’s dominance in scaling electric vehicles, batteries, and solar power. According to data, the country produced 13 million EVs in 2024 with 70% year-over-year growth since 2020, capturing 69% of the global EV battery market via leaders like CATL and BYD.Notably, Musk has frequently shared X (Twitter) posts calling for increased reliance on solar energy for power generation. In 2024, he warned that China’s solar power generation is rapidly expanding, potentially surpassing the entire US electricity output within four years.When asked about energy solutions for increasing power needs 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.” “Peak power output of the US is around 1.1 terawatts, but the average power usage is only half a terowatt. 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.”At this point, the host asks Musk if such batteries are under development. To this, the Tesla CEO says “yeah, Tesla makes them”, highlighting Megapacks. For those unaware, Megapack is a utility-scale battery that provides reliable energy storage, to stabilize the grid and prevents outages. His AI company xAI has added 168 Megapacks at its data center in South Memphis, Tennessee.In September 2025, Tesla also introduced Megablock, a grouping of four Megapack 3 units that can store 20 megawatt-hours, enough to run around 4,000 homes for four hours.
