Elon Musk Wins Bet by Building World’s Biggest Battery
Ashley Allen / 7 years ago
Tesla and SpaceX magnate Elon Musk made a potentially risky bet, but he just managed to win it with ease. Well, to be specific, when I say win I mean he wasn’t forced to sacrifice $50 million. You see, Tesla began work on a revolutionary new battery facility in South Australia. In fact, this Tesla Powerpack array would be the world’s biggest battery once completed. After bragging about the feat on Twitter, Musk wagered that his company could complete construction and installation of the battery within 100 days. If Tesla failed to meet that deadline, though, Musk would foot the $50 million bill. As you already know by now, Tesla completed the battery, and with over a month to spare. However, Musk cheated a little: he made the 100-day declaration after Tesla already completed half the job.
Elon Musk Wins Bet
Musk made the bet on Twitter after being asked if he and Tesla were serious about building the 100MW battery facility:
Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017
South Australia’s signing of a deal with Tesla on 29th September triggered the 100-day countdown; however, Tesla began work on the battery well before that date. Regardless, Musk proved true to the letter of his word, if not the spirit.
World’s Biggest Battery
In a statement, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said:
“While others are just talking, we are delivering our energy plan, making South Australia more self-sufficient, and providing back up power and more affordable energy for South Australians this summer.
The world’s largest lithium ion battery will be an important part of our energy mix, and it sends the clearest message that South Australia will be a leader renewable energy with battery storage.
An enormous amount of work has gone in to delivering this project in such a short time, and I look forward to visiting Jamestown next week to personally thank those who have worked on this project.”
The facility may be complete, but now it needs testing between now and its 1st December launch.
