"The issue with existing batteries is that they suck," said Tesla CEO Elon Musk at an event on California on Thursday night to unveil the new batteries. "They're expensive, they're unreliable, they're sort of stinky, ugly, and bad in every way."
The Powerwall, Tesla Energy's first offering, is a lithium-ion home battery which connects to both the energy grid and solar panels. It "increases the capacity for a household’s solar consumption" with its ability to store surplus solar energy not used when the sun is shining, for later use when the sun is not shining.
As well as storing solar power, Tesla claims the battery also offers consumers "load shifting," by charging from the grid during periods of low rates and discharging during more expensive rate periods, and also offers back-up power in the event of a shortage.
The product is available for pre-order on the company's website, and Tesla hopes to begin shipping the units to installers in the US "in late summer," according to a statement from the company.
For the future to be good, we need electric transport, solar power and (of course)… pic.twitter.com/8mwVWukQDL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 29 апреля 2015
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sees his company at the forefront of energy innovation.
"Tesla is not just an automotive company, it’s an energy innovation company," declared the carmaker in a statement, unveiling its Tesla Energy division. "Tesla Energy is a critical step in this mission to enable zero emission power generation."
The world currently consumes 20 trillion kWh of energy annually, said the company, enough energy to power a single family home for 1.8 billion years. Being able to rely on renewable energy sources for power consumption, according to Tesla, would mean that the top 50% of the dirtiest power generation resources could retire early.
