Sayonara, Dirty Energy: Tesla Unveils In-home 7 And 10kWh ‘Powerwall’ Batteries

Following a rumor-filled month, Tesla yesterday announced its in-home power storage unit, called “Powerwall“. With it, Tesla aims to give people two things: cheaper power over the long run, and backup power in the event of a blackout.

Selling for $3,000 for a 7kWh model and $3,500 for a 10kWh, a Powerwall unit is designed to use its stored energy when it most makes sense. Namely, that means during the day, when feeding power off of the regular grid is at its most expensive. During the night, it can draw power from the regular grid when it’s at its least expensive – if it’s needed.

For the home user, Powerwall will be best taken advantage of when used in conjunction with solar power. It could ultimately mean that you may never actually need to pay anything for on-the-grid power, dependent entirely on your overall usage. You can still benefit without having solar; to some, $3,000 might be worth it in itself to have the security of knowing you’ll have a lot of available power during an outage.

If you’re interested in purchasing a Powerwall but are unsure as to whether or not you should go with the 7 or 10kWh model, Tesla gives some insight about how much power some ordinary devices use. A flat screen TV uses about 0.1kWh, for example, while a laptop uses half that. Where the heavy usage comes in is with appliances: a washing machine can draw 2.3kWh per load, while a dryer bumps that to 3.3kWh. It’s when taking those into consideration that even a 10kWh Powerwall may seem inadequate.

Well, it’s a good thing that you’ll be able to stack up to eight of them, then.

For commercial use, Tesla will be offering 100kWh Powerwall models, although it doesn’t seem like the company has announced partnerships at this time. However, Walmart seems like a surefire candidate, as Elon Musk’s SolarCity has had an ongoing relationship with it since the fall.

So, home-owners: does a Powerwall have your name on it?