Tesla has officially started production of Megapack 3 at its newest Megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, the company's Megapack division announced Tuesday night. The facility went from groundbreaking to operational status in just 16 months and carries a designed capacity of 50 GWh per year — dedicated entirely to the third-generation utility-scale battery product that Tesla Energy is banking on to accelerate global grid deployments.
The Brookshire plant becomes Tesla's third operational Megafactory globally and its second in the United States, joining Lathrop, California (40 GWh) and Shanghai (20 GWh). At full ramp, Texas alone will out-produce both existing sites combined.
Why This Matters for Tesla Energy
Tesla Energy has quietly become one of the company's fastest-growing and highest-margin businesses, and Megapack has been the workhorse behind that growth. The bottleneck for the past several years has been simple: Tesla couldn't build the units fast enough to meet utility demand. Bringing 50 GWh of dedicated Megapack 3 capacity online in Texas is designed to break that ceiling.
The Brookshire site sits in the Empire West industrial park in Waller County, near Houston — placing it inside ERCOT's grid footprint, one of the most battery-storage-hungry markets in the world. Tesla is investing roughly $200 million into the facility, including approximately $44 million for site upgrades and $150 million for manufacturing equipment, according to filings reported by regional outlets including Fox 26 Houston.
Key Figures
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Factory annual capacity (designed) | 50 GWh/year |
| Time from groundbreaking to production | 16 months |
| Megapack 3 usable AC energy per unit | 5 MWh |
| Enclosure weight | 86,000 lbs |
| Enclosure length | 28 feet (shippable globally) |
| Discharge duration optimization | Up to 8 hours |
| Tesla investment (site) | ~$200 million |
| Jobs by 2028 (target) | 1,500 |
What's New About Megapack 3
The Megapack 3 unit is a meaningful step up from the previous generation. Each enclosure delivers about 5 MWh of usable AC energy — a jump from the roughly 3.9 MWh of the current Megapack 2 XL. The unit weighs 86,000 lbs, spans 28 feet, and is designed to fit standard global shipping constraints, which matters when Tesla is deploying to markets from Australia to the UK.
Perhaps most significantly, Megapack 3 is optimized for up to 8-hour discharge durations. That is a direct answer to the shifting economics of grid storage: as utilities layer more solar and wind onto their systems, they need batteries that can shift energy across an entire evening peak, not just cover a 2-hour ramp. Longer-duration storage is where the utility procurement pipeline is heading, and Tesla has just built a factory pointed squarely at that demand.
How We Got Here
Tesla broke ground on the Brookshire site in early 2025 and had the plant in commissioning phase by late July 2026, according to project filings. First deliveries have been targeted for the second half of 2026, which the company is now hitting on schedule.
Ramp targets are staged: roughly 375 employees on-site by the end of 2026, 750 by 2027, and 1,500 by 2028, per figures shared in local economic development disclosures. Getting from the first unit off the line to sustained 50 GWh/year output is a multi-year climb — Lathrop took several years to approach its own designed capacity — but the equipment install and the first-article production milestone are typically the two hardest gates to clear.
What to Watch Next
Three signals will tell us whether Brookshire is on the trajectory Tesla is promising. First, quarterly deployment numbers in Tesla's Energy segment — the next earnings report should be the first to reflect any Megapack 3 shipments. Second, customer announcements: expect a wave of utility PPAs specifically calling out Megapack 3 and its 8-hour spec. Third, hiring pace against the 375-employee 2026 target, which is the leading indicator for how fast the second and third production lines come online.
For a company that has spent the last two years absorbing questions about EV demand softness and the future of Robotaxi, Tesla Energy continues to look like the segment quietly doing what the pitch deck promised. Brookshire is the physical proof.
Related Gear
Gear up your Tesla with tested, custom-fit BASENOR accessories — shop Tesla accessories →
Sources & reporting notes
The links below identify the material source records used for this report.
- @Tesla_Megapack on X (2026-08-06T00:37:41.000Z) — Direct source
- @SawyerMerritt on X (2026-08-06T00:40:25.000Z) — Direct source
Source links are preserved as published or accessed. See our editorial standards and corrections policy.
The BASENOR Editorial Desk covers Tesla, SpaceX, and related technology, curating reporting from primary sources — official accounts, regulatory filings, and software release data. Every article passes source-record and fact-checking review before publication. About the newsroom.
This report was curated by the BASENOR Editorial Desk from the sources listed above. Read our editorial standards or email editorial@basenor.com to report an error.
