Tesla Home Battery
Elon Musk, Ceo of Tesla & chairman of SolarCity, together with CEO Lyndon Rive has announced that in roughly 5 years every solar panel installation, effected by SolarCity, will come with a Tesla battery pack which will help store solar energy & therefore provide an uninterrupted power supply to your home.
This home energy storage system is big news for any home owner who wants to go off the grid or reduce their dependence on the national power supplier.
Furthermore the two companies, SolarCity & Tesla Motors, have close ties with Elon Musk being the common link between the two & having been instrumental in conceptualizing both of them such is his commitment to providing clean energy.
The sharing of technologies by these two companies will, in the near future, be marketing SolarCity home energy storage systems that will be based on years of valuable battery technology from Tesla Motors.
Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors is planning to build a massive facility in Nevada solely for the purpose of manufacturing lithium-ion batteries which is set to be the largest of its kind.
The batteries produced in this factory will be made for both the Tesla Motors vehicle range as well as to SolarCity for their home energy storage systems.
Will It Work?
It should be noted that in past years there have been other ambitious solar & battery projects, similar to this one, that have failed and one of the keys to the success of Elon Musk’s venture, apart from their operational effectiveness, is cost effectiveness.
One of the main reasons for solar energy start ups failing & causing many venture capitalists to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, is that they have not been able to compete with cheap panels from China.
However, when it comes to this type of technology (despite the massive threat from countries, such as China, mass producing similar products at a fraction of the cost, rendering Musk’s venture too costly & uncompetitive), the increasing demand for this type of clean energy, produced by both of these companies (Tesla Motors & SolarCity), will allow economies of scale to lower the cost per unit & overall manufacturing cost of the components which will contribute to decreasing the cost of solar energy (solar panels & batteries).
Another cost benefit for the SolarCity system, contrary to previously failed solar startups who tried developing & using new technology at huge cost, is that they will be focusing on manufacturing a new kind of silicon solar cell which won’t be as costly as silicon manufacturing techniques are already well developed, tested & established.
This means that research & development (R&D) costs, which could be massive, for new technology will be saved.
More On the SolarCity Home Energy Storage System
By leveraging the immense technological wealth that has been researched & developed by Tesla Motors, SolarCity’s home energy storage & backup system will not only be a small (the size of a solar power inverter) & powerful, wall-mounted storage unit, but it will also be very cost effective for home owners.
For your peace of mind the energy storage system will also come with a full 10 year warranty.
Furthermore, SolarCity’s pilot program has already installed 300 systems in homes where home owners have been able to successfully & seamlessly switch to their SolarCity backup system during periods of power outages.
What Will An Energy Storage System Cost For Your Home?
This is just be way of a rough example…
A client living in the area covered by SolarCity requested a quote to power his refrigerator, lights, TV and other appliances in the event of a power outage.
For these requirements he would have enter into a 10 year lease for a 10kWh Tesla battery the cost of which would be an initial payment of $1,500 followed by monthly payments of roughly $15.
Over 10 years this amounts to less than $3,500 which is a lot less than I would have guessed for a complete back up power system.
Furthermore, as demand & production increases from their new Giga Factory, costs should plummet making this home energy back up storage system very affordable for the homeowner.
Lastly when it is in full production, the Tesla Home Battery together with SolarCity’s backup power system could be one of the biggest & most significant innovations for the alternative energy industry as well as for every household on the planet.
Watch this video showing you a working model of Tesla’s electricity generating model in action here
and learn how to build your own…