Tesla unveils battery to get you off the grid

Tesla Powerwall

Musk described the transition as a fundamental transformation in the way energy is delivered across the world.

His solution is two-fold: draw on the free energy produced by the sun and then store that energy so that it is readily available, even when the sun isn't shining, using batteries. Musk emphasised that very little land is required for solar panels if we make use of rooftops on homes and buildings, and even less area is required for battery storage.

Home and industrial use

The first Tesla Energy products unveiled at the launch are the Tesla Powerwall and the Tesla PowerPack.

The PowerWall is built for home and small commercial use: it's wall-mounted, comes in different colours, has integrated safety systems, liquid thermal control, has 92% round-trip DC efficiency and is designed to work well with solar systems making it possible for going completely off the grid.

The PowerPack, on the other hand, is a scalable energy storage unit for heavy industrial and utility applications.

The batteries will be manufactured initially at the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California and will later move to the lithium-ion battery factory in Nevada, the Tesla Gigafactory.

Open source patents

"I do want to emphasise that this is not something that we think Tesla is going to do alone. We think that there's going to need to be many other companies building Gigafactory-class factory operations of their own, and we hope they do. The Tesla policy of open sourcing patents will continue for the Gigafactory and for the PowerPack and for all these other things," said Musk.

The Tesla Powerwall comes in two models; the 10kWh model costs $3,500 and the 7kWh model costs $3,000. for more info, go to www.teslaenergy.com.