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Tesla has announced a consumer-grade home battery named "Powerwall" that will be available in 2 sizes. The battery can recharge at night when electricity rates are low, and then run your house during the day. It is designed for solar charging, and can return power back to the grid or enable autonomous, off-the-grid living.
Some think that this Tesla technology may be the saving grace for the power grid due to home generation and back-flow issues. There have been previous anouncements from other companies of microgrids which seem to aim for close to the same market, and it is not yet clear how the Powerwall might stack up against these competitors.
The first Tesla Energy product is 'Powerwall Home Battery,' a stationary battery that can power a household without requiring the grid. The battery is rechargeable lithium-ion — it uses Tesla's existing battery tech — and can be fixed to a wall, removing much of the existing complexity around using a local power source.
"The issue with existing batteries is that they suck," Musk said in a press conference announcing Tesla Energy. "They are expensive, unreliable and bad in every way."
Tesla's solution, he said, is different.
For one thing, the company's batteries cost $3,500 for 10kWh and $3,000 for 7kWh — add your snarky Apple Watch price comparison here. They are open for pre-orders in the U.S. now; the first orders will be dispatched "in late summer."
Like regular batteries, they can be used together — up to nine can be stacked up together to create a strong and reliable power source. Musk said he believes they can help people in emerging markets or remote locations 'leapfrog' the need for existing power systems, in a similar way that mobile phones have become more important than landlines in remote parts of the world.
microtodd says: Hook it up to some solar panels and you could be 100% off the grid. I know products like this already exist but maybe this is the step from a hobbyist market to a Home Depot consumerist market. I bet some Soylenters out there have already DIYd this themselves at home. Does this look feasible and interesting?
Too bad it's basically illegal to live off the grid.
CoolHand says: Obviously, modern civilization is not yet fully prepared for the post-fossil fuel era, but news like this can at least give some hope that there are people out there working to prepare us, and in that way, we may be just a little bit closer to being ready.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Zinho on Friday May 01 2015, @05:01PM
I was somehow hoping for a breakthrough in $/kWh, and this isn't it. From the website:
Models
10 kWh $3,500
For backup applications
7 kWh $3,000
For daily cycle applications
In comparison, the typical lead-acid batteries on the market at the same price point deliver twice the storage. [wholesalesolar.com] (for the linked bank, 48V*428A*h = 20.5 kWh @ <$3k)
Until capacity increases dramatically and price comes down, going off-grid won't be an option for me and my family. Clothes washing alone would put me over-budget for energy with this battery system, according to the numbers on Tesla's website.
I'm sure that maintenance and reliability are great on the Tesla Powerwall, it just doesn't get me into the off-grid market yet.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 3, Interesting) by CoolHand on Friday May 01 2015, @05:17PM
Until capacity increases dramatically and price comes down, going off-grid won't be an option for me and my family. Clothes washing alone would put me over-budget for energy with this battery system, according to the numbers on Tesla's website.
All that's needed is a bit of retro thinking.. :) (i.e. disconnect the motor in the washer, and run a belt to a bicycle to power it, then just simple let the clothes air dry..)
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(Score: 5, Informative) by compro01 on Friday May 01 2015, @05:19PM
Yes, but the usable capacity of the lead-acid unit is only about half the nameplate. Lead-acid really doesn't like deep discharge.
So you're looking at about the same price per kilowatt-hour and then throw in the fact that Tesla's product is maintenance-free, smaller, lighter, and comes with a 10 year warranty. And I would bet on the price dropping once they get the gigafactory spun up in a couple years.
(Score: 5, Informative) by TrumpetPower! on Friday May 01 2015, @05:36PM
Also, lead-acid batteries are notorious for going tits-up after just a few years. A lead-acid battery that costs $5000 and needs to be replaced after five years is a lot more expensive than a lithium battery that costs $15,000 but's still going strong at 80% original capacity even after you've paid off the 30-year mortgage.
(And, remember: lithium only has a short lifespan if you beat the shit out of it. Keep the temperature under control and be gentle with the charging and discharging -- as would be the case in a properly-sized home system -- and it'll last nearly forever with an almost-negligible gradual decline in capacity.)
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Friday May 01 2015, @10:09PM
Not ONLY do they go titsup in a short period, but they do so sometimes cell by cell, or battery by battery, which ends up with certain cells or batteries being over-driven by the charger, and falling completely out when being discharged, leaving you with uncertain voltage.
They are heavy, (and you are always schlepping spares and replacements, de-gas hydrogen, and because you have to mess with them often for replacement, you are always one dropped wrench from a rude surprise.
You are in constant maintenance mode with a bank of Lead-acid. Its way beyond Joe Sixpack, so only the geeky folks can manage it.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by TrumpetPower! on Friday May 01 2015, @11:05PM
The single dead cell is a potential failure mode with any multi-cell battery regardless of chemistry...and it's the job of the battery management system to detect and isolate such cells and alert the user to the need for maintenance. But if you're going with lead acid, "minimal capital investment" is likely your financial strategy, which means you may well forego the BMS entirely.
...and, if you do that, you might not even bother balancing the cells initially, let alone keep them in balance, which just further minimizes capacity and shortens life.
There's probably still a great deal to be said for Edison-style nickel-iron batteries for home use...but they'd never have a prayer in mobile applications and it's cars where the economies of scale are coming into play initially. Lithium probably meets the 80/20 rule in a purely technical comparison with nickel-iron, especially with a quality BMS that won't let you damage the batteries...and lithium is already a lot cheaper up front than nickel-iron.
b&
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by richtopia on Friday May 01 2015, @06:15PM
I haven't looked too closely to what is included in the Powerwall, but I assume it at least includes a battery management system out of the box. And it is probably contractor plug and play.
If you go hunting for lithium cells you can actually find much cheaper cells on the market (200USD/kWh for a big player probably). But either lead acid or do it yourself lithium brings many headaches that this unit solved, and probably includes a warranty also.
Not to mention this is at an early adopter stage. Deliveries begin this summer. Once the gigafactory is online, the price should drop radically. Not because Tesla will make batteries that much cheaper, but because startup will be difficult and there will be plenty of B grade cells produced. Cars are a difficult market, and need the AA grade cells to remain competitive; but those marginal cells are just fine when you don't need to carry them everywhere.
And in the farther future, when the gigafactory has quality control solved and yielding mostly automotive grade cells? Well by then old Teslas will be entering retirement; and those batteries will be ready for recycle into stationary power.
What I find the most interesting with this is the residential market application. Particularly in California, small businesses are the ones who need these load leveling technologies. I return to my early adopter argument from before: this iteration is probably not financially viable if you ignore the warm and fuzzy green feeling the owner will gain. However, learnings from this iteration will be useful in the future when costs come down and larger implementations can be deployed.
(Score: 2, Informative) by anubi on Sunday May 03 2015, @08:02AM
I have heard the Tesla battery pack is made internally of arrays of 18650 cells. These could be very useful in doomsday scenarios, as a lot of stuff runs on lithium 18650 cells.
Heck, I just got through converting my old Braun shaver to run on an external pair of 18650 I recovered from a spent laptop pack. I could not stand throwing that old shaver away just because its internal battery pack and charging module was shot. That shaver has got to be right at 40 years old... and mechanically, I cannot find anything like it these days. Beautifully designed thing.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]