homehome Home chatchat Notifications


New Tesla Battery Could Take Your Home Off The Grid

Tesla Motors are out to change the world - and they're doing it fast, and in style. Like many other of their projects, this one seemed to pop up out of nowhere: Tesla have designed a battery that can power your home and even larger utility buildings. In other words - it could take your house out of the grid.

Henry Conrad
March 25, 2015 @ 1:47 pm

share Share

[EDIT: Tesla made the official announcement! Read more about it and the new battery HERE]

Tesla Motors are out to change the world – and they’re doing it fast, and in style. Like many other of their projects, this one seemed to pop up out of nowhere: Tesla have designed a battery that can power your home and even larger utility buildings. In other words – it could take your house out of the grid.

The battery’s modern design promises to blend into any house. Image via Inhabitat.

When dealing with electric cars and even renewable energy, storing energy is one of the major problems – the difficulties and costs in storing solar or wind energy are part of the reason why most people stay on the grid, using conventional energy; enter the stage Tesla. The new battery they designed, and which according to founder and chief executive Elon Musk will be unveiled in a month or two, promises to not only be an efficient way to store energy, but also a way to save money.

“It’s really great. I’m really excited about it,” Musk said in February. Mass production could be only six months away, he added. He also stated that the battery will feature a chique design which will blend into any home design.

While there is no word on the price yet, this innovation is not only aimed at the eco-friendly homeowner. These batteries could be a huge benefit for those living in areas where grid power is unreliable due to power outages – basically replacing generators. But for the millions of people frustrated with their energy providers, this may finally be a way out.

“There may be a ‘tipping point’ that causes customers to seek an off-grid approach,” Morgan Stanley wrote last March. “The more customers move to solar, the remaining utility customer bill will rise, creating even further “headroom” for Tesla’s off-grid approach.”

According to inside sources, Tesla is moving to make the battery widely available as fast as possible.

“A lot of utilities are working in this space, and we’re talking to almost all of them,” said Tesla’s chief technical officer, JB Straubel. “It’s early stage stuff and a lot of these projects are very far out since the procurement cycle for utilities is so long. But this is a business that certainly is gaining an increasing amount of our attention.”

It’s been over a month since the initial announcement was made, and we’re still waiting. Hopefully, the wait won’t be in vain.

So what do you think? Are we in fact reaching a tipping point, breaking the bottleneck that prevented so many people from using renewable energy in their home? Or is this another invention meant to fail?

Listen to the full investor call here.

share Share

A Dutch 17-Year-Old Forgot His Native Language After Knee Surgery and Spoke Only English Even Though He Had Never Used It Outside School

He experienced foreign language syndrome for about 24 hours, and remembered every single detail of the incident even after recovery.

Your Brain Hits a Metabolic Cliff at 43. Here’s What That Means

This is when brain aging quietly kicks in.

Scientists Just Found a Hidden Battery Life Killer and the Fix Is Shockingly Simple

A simple tweak could dramatically improve the lifespan of Li-ion batteries.

Westerners cheat AI agents while Japanese treat them with respect

Japan’s robots are redefining work, care, and education — with lessons for the world.

Scientists Turn to Smelly Frogs to Fight Superbugs: How Their Slime Might Be the Key to Our Next Antibiotics

Researchers engineer synthetic antibiotics from frog slime that kill deadly bacteria without harming humans.

This Popular Zero-Calorie Sugar Substitute May Be Making You Hungrier, Not Slimmer

Zero-calorie sweeteners might confuse the brain, especially in people with obesity

Any Kind of Exercise, At Any Age, Boosts Your Brain

Even light physical activity can sharpen memory and boost mood across all ages.

A Brain Implant Just Turned a Woman’s Thoughts Into Speech in Near Real Time

This tech restores speech in real time for people who can’t talk, using only brain signals.

Using screens in bed increases insomnia risk by 59% — but social media isn’t the worst offender

Forget blue light, the real reason screens disrupt sleep may be simpler than experts thought.

We Should Start Worrying About Space Piracy. Here's Why This Could be A Big Deal

“We are arguing that it’s already started," say experts.