Will Tesla's Powerwall Change the World?

 Elon Musk  

Elon Musk has big plans for the Tesla brand, and the battery Gigafactory under construction in Nevada. The company has announced its foray into zero emission energy generation for homes and businesses.

Elon Musk recently announced "Tesla Energy," described by the founder of Tesla Motors as "a suite of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities fostering a clean energy ecosystem and helping wean the world off fossil fuels."

Musk made the official announcement onstage at the company's design studio in Hawthorne, California (see video above).

"We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky, called the Sun," he said, stressing that solar power is the best way to end the world's addiction to fossil fuels and head off a disastrous future in which we are overwhelmed by CO2 in the atmosphere.

Powerwall is a home battery that charges using electricity generated from solar panels, or when utility rates are low, and powers your home in the evening. It also fortifies your home against power outages by providing a backup electricity supply. Automated, compact and simple to install, according to Tesla, Powerwall offers independence from the utility grid and the security of an emergency backup.

"We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky, called the Sun."

It looks "like a beautiful piece of sculpture," Musk said. You can order it now, it's wall-mounted, and it comes in different colors.

"The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to store energy at a residential level for load shifting, backup power and self-consumption of solar power generation," Tesla said.

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"The Powerwall consists of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. The unit mounts seamlessly on a wall and is integrated with the local grid to harness excess power and give customers the flexibility to draw energy from their own reserve."

The Powerwall is available in 10kWh, optimized for backup applications or 7kWh optimized for daily use applications. Both can be connected with solar or grid and both can provide backup power. The 10kWh Powerwall is optimized to provide backup when the grid goes down, providing power for your home when you need it most. When paired with solar power, the 7kWh Powerwall can be used in daily cycling to extend the environmental and cost benefits of solar into the night when sunlight is unavailable.

Tesla’s selling price to installers is $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh. (Price excludes inverter and installation.) Deliveries begin in late summer.

There will also be a battery application for businesses and one for utilities. Both will operate on a larger scale than the "Powerwall" home battery. They will be called "Powerpacks."

Partnering with Tesla on this technology are Amazon, Target, and Southern California Edison, among others. Musk said that with 160 million Powerpacks, the entire United States could be transitioned to renewable energy.

To demonstrate his point, he revealed that Tesla's entire event was being powered by solar energy stored in Tesla batteries.

Musk said that initially the Powerwall and Powerpack will be made in Tesla's Fremont factory, but as the product line scales, it will be made in the massive $5-billion Gigafactory that the company is building in Nevada.

Like all of Tesla's technology, the patents for the Powerwall, have also been open-sourced.

By 33rd Square

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