Tesla will soon come up with home batteries which could help users lower their utility fees by going “off-grid”
Tesla Motors plans to offer a home battery that can be used in houses or business very soon, CEO Elon Musk told analysts during the company’s earnings conference call on Wednesday. Musk mentioned that the product could be showcased in a couple of months.
Tesla eyes a bigger market
“We have the design done, and it should start going into production in about six months or so,” Musk said. “It’s really great.”
The EV manufacturer is already offering residential energy storage units to limited customers via SolarCity, the solar-power company of which Musk is chairman and also the biggest shareholder. To cater to the needs of businesses and utility clients, Tesla’s Fremont facility is also working on larger stationary storage systems for businesses and utility clients. The automaker has already deployed a massive storage unit at its Tejon Ranch Supercharger station at Interstate 5 in Southern California and has various other commercial installations in the field, according to a Bloomberg report by Dana HullMark Chediak.
However, Tesla now wants to tap the larger market, which is the utility market. Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel told analysts during the earnings call that there are a number of utilities working in this area, and Tesla is in talks with almost all of them.
“This is a business that is gaining an increasing amount of our attention,” Straubel added.
To compete with traditional electric grid
Tesla Motors is known for its Model S sedan and now is monetizing its know-how of lithium–ion battery technology with the aim of standing as the frontrunner in the fast growing energy storage market, which is enough to support and eventually compete with the traditional electric grid, says the Bloomberg report.
If solar panels are paired with large, efficient batteries, it would be sufficient for some home owners to cut down on buying electricity from their utility companies. A positive for Tesla is that California considers energy storage as an efficient tool to manage the electric grid in a better way.
Morgan Stanley mentioned last year that Tesla’s energy storage products could be “disruptive” in the United States and Europe as customers are willing to reduce their utility fees by going “off-grid.”
