Tesla Motors has unveiled Tesla Energy, which is a collection of rechargeable batteries that can be used to power up homes, businesses and utilities.
The company is increasing its efforts to hasten the move to replace the usage of fossil fuels with sustainable energy.
Tesla Motors introduced the Tesla Powerwall, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that is designed to store energy for homes. It is composed of the lithium-ion battery pack of Tesla, a liquid thermal control system and a software package that is able to receive dispatch commands coming from a solar inverter.
The Tesla Powerwall can be mounted seamlessly onto a wall in a home and integrated with the local grid to be able to utilize excess power and allow customers the option to draw extra energy from reserves that they collect.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk said that the Tesla Powerwall will allow owners to get off the electric grid, freeing themselves from utilities. Musk also said that the technology fits with the mission of Tesla Motors to revolutionize environment-friendly energy in the world.
According to Tesla Motors, the Tesla Powerwall can provide customers with several benefits. Included in these benefits is the capability to do load shifting, which would lead to financial savings for the customer. The battery can charge up during times of the day when electricity charges and power demand are low, and then discharge the stored energy for the home's use at times of the day when electricity charges and power demand are high.
The Tesla Powerwall can also store extra solar energy, which was not used at the time of generation, increasing the consumption of customers of their self-generated solar power.
Lastly, the Tesla Powerwall can also serve as a backup energy source in the event of a power outage.
The Tesla Powerwall comes with capacities of 10 kWh, which is optimized to serve as a backup energy source, or 7 kWh, which is optimized for daily usage but can also serve as a backup energy source.
The 10 kWh Tesla Powerwall will be sold to installers for $3,500 and the 7 kWh version for $3,000. Customers can then purchase the battery systems from installers, in addition to paying for installation fees and the inverter that the system will use.
Deliveries of the Tesla Powerwall will begin late in the summer season.
"What Tesla is doing is an all-in strategy to bring the clean-air revolution to the state. And as California goes, so goes the nation," said Roland Hwang, Natural Resources Defense Council director for energy and transportation.
