Tesla Motors’ recently unveiled family of batteries that can power homes and business has been a topic of long-time speculation whose conception many considered an inevitable business move that would help the US electric car maker hedge its massive gigafactory against the low-demand for electric cars in this nascent stage.
The continuous drop in solar panel cost and the ability to lease panels makes the clean energy investment more inviting than ever before, and Tesla’s entry into the utility market may be seen as a bold move that will help corner the market and establish consumer confidence early on, giving the company control over an new power infrastructure. The new battery is called the Powerwall, and will be available as a 7kWh daily cycle unit and as a 10kWh weekly cycle unit. The 7kWh pack costs $3,000 and the 10kWh costs $3,5000; already this is roughly 1/3 of the price of its competitors.
Some other things you may not know:
1.) Powerwall’s rechargeable lithium-ion battery unit is built from the same batteries Tesla Motors uses in its electric vehicles.
2.) Some enterprising individuals have already outfitted their home’s electric system with batteries taken from the Tesla Model S.
3.) Multiple Powerwall units can be strung together for homes with greater energy needs: up to 90kWh for the 10 kWh battery and 63 kWh for the 7 kWh.
4.) USwitch.com, the UK-based energy cost comparison website, estimates that a single kWh of energy can power two full days of laptop usage, a full washing machine cycle, or be used to boil a kettle 10 times.
5.) Powerwall measures 51.2” (1300mm) by 33.9” (860 mm) with 7.1” (180 mm) in depth and can be attached inside the garage to power your EV or outside of the home.
6.) The battery packs are available in a red, white, blue, black, and grey enclosures.
7.) Powerwall units come with a 10 year warranty.
8.) Powerwall is Internet-connected, allowing you to monitor your energy usage remotely.
9.) Tesla is partnering with solar panel installation companies to install the home batteries. SolarCity — which Elon Musk is the primary shareholder — is first company announced in this agreement.
10.) A pilot program in California has already tested 300 homes outfitted with consumer-grade Powerwall batteries as well as a dozen Walmart stores and one Cargill animal processing plant with business-grade packs.
11.) Tesla is currently allowing customers to pre-order the home-edition of the pack, but it won’t be released until later this summer at a to-be-determined date.
12.) Business-grade Powerwall units will be released in 2016.
13.) Specs
14.) Tesla Motors faces stiff energy storage competition from General Electric and LG Chem, South Korea’s top chemical company.
15.) Experts fear that the gigafactory’s lithium ion battery pack could made obsolete within a fear years by new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells.
Source: Teslamotors
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