[EDIT: Tesla made the official announcement! Read more about it and the new battery HERE]
Tesla Motors are out to change the world – and they’re doing it fast, and in style. Like many other of their projects, this one seemed to pop up out of nowhere: Tesla have designed a battery that can power your home and even larger utility buildings. In other words – it could take your house out of the grid.
The battery’s modern design promises to blend into any house. Image via Inhabitat.
When dealing with electric cars and even renewable energy, storing energy is one of the major problems – the difficulties and costs in storing solar or wind energy are part of the reason why most people stay on the grid, using conventional energy; enter the stage Tesla. The new battery they designed, and which according to founder and chief executive Elon Musk will be unveiled in a month or two, promises to not only be an efficient way to store energy, but also a way to save money.
“It’s really great. I’m really excited about it,” Musk said in February. Mass production could be only six months away, he added. He also stated that the battery will feature a chique design which will blend into any home design.
While there is no word on the price yet, this innovation is not only aimed at the eco-friendly homeowner. These batteries could be a huge benefit for those living in areas where grid power is unreliable due to power outages – basically replacing generators. But for the millions of people frustrated with their energy providers, this may finally be a way out.
“There may be a ‘tipping point’ that causes customers to seek an off-grid approach,” Morgan Stanley wrote last March. “The more customers move to solar, the remaining utility customer bill will rise, creating even further “headroom” for Tesla’s off-grid approach.”
According to inside sources, Tesla is moving to make the battery widely available as fast as possible.
“A lot of utilities are working in this space, and we’re talking to almost all of them,” said Tesla’s chief technical officer, JB Straubel. “It’s early stage stuff and a lot of these projects are very far out since the procurement cycle for utilities is so long. But this is a business that certainly is gaining an increasing amount of our attention.”
It’s been over a month since the initial announcement was made, and we’re still waiting. Hopefully, the wait won’t be in vain.
So what do you think? Are we in fact reaching a tipping point, breaking the bottleneck that prevented so many people from using renewable energy in their home? Or is this another invention meant to fail?
Listen to the full investor call here.
Enjoyed this article? Join 40,000+ subscribers to the ZME Science newsletter. Subscribe now!