Tesla Motors will nearly double the power capacity of its Powerwall energy storage system but at the same price, says a report from Electrek. Although there are some tweaks to be made in the battery, the first Powerwall systems are still expected to be delivered by the end of the summer. Production is expected to ramp up next year as Tesla is looking to start producing batteries in its gigafactory in Nevada.
Demand for Tesla’a Powerwall encouraging
During the 2015 annual shareholders meeting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the price will remain the same at $3,000 for the 7kWh daily cycle version and $3,500 for the 10KWh weekly cycle version.
The one with the battery power of 7KWh will need to charge on a daily basis to take the advantage of a solar power installation or manage usage. Additionally, the battery could be integrated with multiple packs to take a solar installation off-grid. The 10KWh one can be used for a backup power system and is meant to be used in the case of power failures. However, it can survive weekly cycles for more than 10 years.
Musk acknowledged that the demand for the Powerwall systems is encouraging with more than 38,000 reservations in just one week. However, there were some issues also surfacing, with the biggest problem being that steady output was limited to 2KW, which is not enough for an average household. Musk said they listened to the complaints and now have adjusted it to 5KW.
Strong demand from utilities
Musk maintained that the company is expecting demand for energy storage mostly from utilities. The Tesla CEO said that a total of 80% of Tesla’s stationary storage capacity should go to utility-scale projects. Just last week, the Palo Alto-based company entered into a 500 MWh deal with Advanced Microgrid Solutions to supply battery packs for electric utilities. Musk suggested that Tesla’s solutions as a “plug and play” option for utilities can be installed in existing electric substations.
JB Straubel, Tesla chief technology officer, said that the demand for energy storage at the utility level will enable electric companies to make full-utilization of their infrastructure investments.
On Thursday, Tesla shares closed up 0.28% at $251.41, and year to date, the stock is up by over 13%.
