Tesla is reportedly set to release an all-new product that is not a new car line, at least according to a tweet sent out by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
So far, the company has not announced any specific details about what the new product could be, but there is a lot of speculation surrounding the project. The big unveil will take place on April 30.
The first possibility is that the company will unveil something related to powering homes. The company has mentioned in the past that it was working on using Tesla's battery technology to help power homes better, and it will likely be something of a reapplication of the technology that the company is using to power cars.
When Musk first mentioned the battery being used to power homes, he said that the technology would be ready within a few months, further leading to speculation that this upcoming announcement is home-battery related.
"We're going to unveil the Tesla home battery ... that will be for use in and people's houses or businesses, fairly soon. We have the design done and it should start going into production probably about six months or so," said Musk during a conference call. "We probably got a date to have sort of product unveiling, it's probably in the next month or two. It's really great. I'm really excited about it."
The idea of home batteries has been growing in popularity, especially in areas where power outages are common. Despite this, the idea has not really been put into mass practice yet, largely because most don't feel the need to buy a home battery, especially in the U.S. This is mostly because of the fact that most power outages in the U.S. are resolved within a few days at most, a luxury that many other countries do not enjoy.
Another reason that most U.S. homes don't use home batteries is the fact that they would have to be big enough to hold massive amounts of charge, something that is often far too expensive to put into practice. If Tesla is able to use its technology to cheapen the price of a home battery, it could be a big deal.
The idea of a home battery will likely go hand-in-hand with solar technology, acting as a backup to solar panels, particularly in areas where sunlight is not always guaranteed.
It's possible that these batteries could also be used to charge Tesla cars if the user's normal source of electricity is not available.
Of course it's also possible, given Elon Musk's track record of being unpredictable, that the announcement will be something else entirely.
Photo: Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images
