The company branches out from car manufacturing to energy innovation.
Tesla Motors unveiled Tesla Energy on Thursday during a press conference, where Elon Musk assured that it is “within the power of humanity” to change the way we use and produce power. The entire presentation and party, Musk revealed, was being powered entirely by stored solar energy and Tesla’s new line of cutting-edge batteries.
Image via Tesla presskit
The Tesla Powerwall is a zero carbon, sustainable lithium-ion battery meant to stick right on your wall, inside or outside of the house. At about 3 feet across, 4 feet tall, and 6 inches deep, it also comes equipped with integrated heat management and software that receives commands from a solar inverter. The battery charges using electricity generated from solar panels.
Image via Tesla
By intelligently monitoring power usage and peak hours, the batteries collect and store solar power during hours when energy consumption is low, and discharge when energy consumption is high. This allows home-owners to avoid paying the higher rates for power that providers often charge during high-demand hours. The Powerpack also addresses solar energy’s classic problem of only being able to function when the sun is out, and may even do away with outages and blackouts for good.
Reservations for the Powerwall are being taken online, here, with deliveries beginning in the late summer. There are two versions: $3,000 for the 7kWh, and $3,500 for the 10kWh.
Image via Tesla
While the company is poised to save homeowners money on energy consumption, the overall goal of Tesla Energy is to reformulate the energy grid as a whole by shifting dependence away from the dirtiest energy sources such as fossil fuels that emit carbon. Tesla is also working on a version for businesses called the Powerpack, to be available in 2016.
“I think in the near future, having a battery in your home will be as normal as having a water heater or a dishwasher,” said Jason Ballard, president of TreeHouse, a sustainable home improvement store collaborating with Tesla, in a press release. “This just takes us one step closer to being able to power homes completely without the use of fossil fuels.”
Image via Tesla
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