Tesla’s New Product: The Powerwall Home Battery

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Tesla’s new Powerwall announcement was slightly unforeseen, but not an entirely surprising addition to Tesla’s product line. The recent announcement by Elon Musk is a battery , not for gadgets, or your smoke detector, but for your entire home. The concept of the Powerwall is that it will store the energy created from your solar panels, so when you come home after work, school, or whatever else you might be doing that day, your Powerwall will be fully charged, ready for you to do everything you need to do that involves electricity.

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, Powerwall offers independence from the utility grid and the security of an emergency backup.

models-powerwall
Image courtesy Tesla Motors

Now of course the old problem with solar power is that the times you need power are in the morning and evening, just when the sun is rising or setting. The Powerwall wants to distribute the power that solar panels create throughout your day, to when you actually need it. Of course there are other battery solutions for storing solar energy, but none quite so elegant. Another interesting aspect of the Powerwall is that it can be charged off of the grid, say during the day, when rates are lower, which means even if you don’t have solar panels, you could potentially lower your monthly energy bill. The Powerwall obviously acts as a generator as well in case power from the grid gets cut off.

Image courtesy mashable
Image courtesy mashable

There are two models, a 10kWh model, which would cycle weekly, and a 7kWh that would cycle daily – presumably a “cycle” is a discharge and charge cycle. Multiple batteries can be installed as well. Tesla does say that the 10kWh model would be used primarily for backup purposes.

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Multiple batteries may be installed together for homes with greater energy need, up to 90 kWh total for the 10 kWh battery and 63 kWh total for the 7 kWh battery.

The 10kWh model will cost $3500 and the 7kWh model will cost $3000. Each unit comes with a 10 year warranty, which will last approximately 10,000 charge cycles. It’ll work in a temperature range of -4°F to 110°F and weights about 220 pounds.

The Powerwalls are available for preorder, and they’ll begin delivering this summer, but if Teslas are anything to go by, you might be waiting a while. For more specifications and information and specifications visit the Tesla website.

What do you think of the new Tesla Powerwall? Do you think it has a market? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

[button link=”http://www.teslamotors.com/powerwall”]Source: Tesla[/button]

Last Updated on November 27, 2018.

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