Tesla Motors has announced Tesla Energy along with its new Powerwall. The Powerwall is essentially a lithium-ion battery for your home, it can hold up to 10 kWh per unit and can be joined with up to 9 units giving you 90 kWh of potential energy stored.
How does this help? Well it can be charged from your mains power supply when the electricity is cheaper and give you the energy back when the electricity is expensive during peak hours. But that is not all, it can also store energy from other sources, like solar or wind turbines. Which in theory can give you the possibility to run a house completely off of the main power grid, essentially making your own power for free, after setup costs.
Now down to the cost, it is $4645 NZD. For what your getting though this is not a terrible price, this price also includes installation in your home and connection up to existing solar panels or wind turbines that you may have. They also don’t take up much space, they can live in your garage or on the outside wall of your house.
To give you an idea of how much power you could be storing, a TV would use 0.1kw/hr as do lights, a laptop uses about 0.05kw /hr, a washing machine would use 2.3kWh per cycle and a fridge would use 4.8kWh per day. So 1 unit can go a long way and if you needed just pair it up with another one.
And when can you get this? Well you cant right now, and it will be available in Australia and America during America’s Summer.