Tesla has had to function beyond being a car company in order to pioneer in the market for electric vehicles (EVs). Now, the automaker's efforts to find better battery technologies for its EVs have culminated in the development of the company's latest arm: Tesla Energy.
The Tesla chief opened the keynote address, titled "The Missing Piece," by underscoring the need for the world to move away from its dependency on fossil fuels.
Pointing to a square the size of a few counties, Musk said the relatively small area would be all it required to power the U.S. with clean energy alone.
Zooming into the map, he pointed out a red pixel inside the blue square.
That "one pixel is the size of the batteries needed for the United States to have no fossil fuel-generated electricity," said Musk.
Those are the long-term ambitions of Tesla Engery, and it has already been taking root. While the automaker pushes for some drastic changes to the energy grid of the U.S., Tesla Energy has also been preparing its energy storage technology for a new consumer battery.
"The obvious problem with solar power is that the sun does not shine at night—I think most people are aware of this," said Musk, adding: "The issue with existing batteries is, they suck. They are really horrible."
Tesla Energy is looking to replace those "horrible" batteries with its Powerwall, a wall mounted battery to efficiently store the free energy the sun passes along.
The perks of picking up power from the Powerwall include the ability to shift electricity loads to and from the battery as needed, the capacity to store surplus solar energy and backup power.
The Powerwall will be offered in two versions at first, one that offers 7 kilowatt hours and another that offers 10.
The Powerwall will come in several colors and will work with a variety of solar panels, according to Musk. The fact that the battery is wall mounted is vital because consumers won't need to have "battery room," Musk stated.
"It means that a normal household can mount this on garage or on the outside wall of their house and it doesn't take up any room," said Musk. "It's flat against the wall. It has all of the integrated safety systems, the thermal controls, the DC to DC converter. It's designed to work very well with solar systems, right out of the box and it addresses all of the needs."
Back on the wide side of the scale, Tesla has already been working with several utilities and corporations to integrate its clean energy technology into the campuses' infrastructure.
To scale up to the requirements of business and utilities, 100 kilowatt hour batteries can be grouped together to satisfy the organizations' energy requirement.
"Tesla's bold approach to advancing battery technology will change the way we build our cities forever" said Susan Kennedy, co-founder and CEO of Advanced Microgrid Solutions.
Check out Musk's full keynote address in the video below:
