Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla has just announced a new line of stationary batteries for home and utilities. Called Powerwall, these units are meant to store energy when it is scarce, expensive or intermittent. Powerwall can scale up from basic home units to massive energy storage farms for utilities.
For now there are two versions, a 10kWh and a 7kWh model, priced at $3,500 and $3,000 USD respectively. The 10kWh unit is meant more for use as a backup power source in case the grid goes down. The 7kWh unit is built more around dealing with daily power fluctuations related to renewables like solar panels. While both units are much the same and be used interchangeably, Tesla’s materials do say that the 7kWh unit is meant for daily cycling and the 10kWh unit for weekly cycling. Once you compare the price/kWh, it might just be that the 7kWh unit might have some excess capacity built in to let it hit the same 10 year lifespan the larger unit does. As batteries degrade over cycles, capacity can be lost so this might just be the case.
Both units can be mounted unobtrusively on a wall, at only 7 inches thick, 51 inches tall and 34 inches wide. Operating temperatures range from -20C to 43C and the battery itself is liquid cooled. Installation for homes is expected to take between and hour to and hour and a half. Powerwall will be sold by Tesla Energy, which maybe a division in Tesla in a partnership with SolarCity, a solar panel firm. Deliveries begin this summer and units are reservable already. You can find the full press release and the Powerwall page at these links.
