On April 30^th 2015 Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced the Powerwall Home Battery. The idea behind the Powerwall was to power a household from energy collected through roof solar panels. Now Tesla has announced the latest update to their pioneering technology, the Powerwall 2.0.

The Powerwall update

In March Tesla discontinued the 10 kWh version leaving consumers with only a 6.4 kWh version. So when comparing the new model to the currently available older version, the first thing that stands out is the energy storage. It has more than doubled to 13.5 kWh, and with the ability to mount the batteries in series (up to 9) you could get 121.5 kWh! According to a survey by the Government, the average UK household uses around 11 kWh per day (this figure varies from house to house). So 1 Powerwall could provide your home with the daily energy it needs.

Powerpack solar storage

At the same time as announcing the Powerwall, Musk also announced the Powerpack 2. This unit is designed for commercial use, but in the future Tesla wants everyone to be running whole cities off the Powerpack. They have estimated you would need 160 million battery packs to shift the U.S. to renewable energy or 900 million units for the entire world.

While this might seem a bit far-fetched at the moment, there is no denying the popularity of the new Tesla cars and pushing the boundary of using electrical energy.

Whether these “home batteries” are the future or not, they are an exciting step forward in technology, and it will be exciting to see how this idea develops over the next 5, 10 even 20 years.

If you’re interested in solar energy Metrotile offers a range of photovoltaic roof tiles and panels that can help you reduce your bills and cut your carbon footprint. For more information call our team on 01249 658 514 or fill out our contact form and we’ll get back to you.