Elon Musk's Tesla launches bid to supply electricity to British households

Elon Musk's electrical conveyance shaper and vigor institution Tesla is preparing to proviso energy to British households and businesses.

The Texas-based institution formally submitted its petition for an energy licence to the British vigor regulator Ofgem astatine the extremity of past month, according to a notice connected the watchdog's website.

If approved, the determination could pave the mode for Tesla to vie with the large firms that predominate the U.K. vigor marketplace from arsenic soon arsenic adjacent year.

The application, archetypal reported by the Sunday Telegraph, came from Tesla Energy Ventures and was signed by Andrew Payne, who runs the firm's European vigor operations.

Tesla, which is champion known arsenic 1 of the world's starring EV manufacturers, besides develops star vigor procreation systems and artillery vigor retention products.

Musk's institution already has an energy supplier successful Texas, called Tesla Electric. The service, which was launched successful 2022, allows customers to optimize vigor depletion and pays them for selling excess vigor backmost to the grid.

Tesla's propulsion for a licence to proviso energy to British households comes arsenic the institution endures a protracted European income slump.

Data published past week by the U.K.'s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed Tesla's caller car income dropped by astir 60% to 987 units past month, down from 2,462 a twelvemonth ago.

In Germany, meanwhile, Tesla car income fell to 1,110 units successful July, down 55.1% from the aforesaid period successful 2024.

The latest income figures underscored immoderate of the challenges facing the company, which continues to look stiff competition, peculiarly from Chinese EV manufacturers, and reputational harm from Musk's incendiary rhetoric and narration with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.