Por cerca de US$ 3 000 acaba de ser anunciada uma superbateria capaz de satisfazer as necessidades energéticas de uma casa. O equipamento Powerwall é do tamanho de uma geladeira pequeno, acumula 7 kWh e deve ser colocada numa garagem ou na parte exterior de uma casa.

Produtividade da Bateria

Rentabilização da Bateria

A ideia é rentabilizar a acumulação de energia, seja ela solar ou da rede energética habitual – neste caso é possível aproveitar momentos em que a energia da rede esteja mais barata de modo a utilizá-la quando estiver mais cara, permitindo poupanças significativas. No caso da energia solar, o plano é captar energia a partir de painéis solares para carregar a bateria, o que será suficiente para alimentar a casa no período noturno – ambas as opções permitem manter energia guardada para situações de emergência.

A nova Super Bateria Tesla

De modo a viabilizar o projeto e expandir a base de clientes, a Tesla está também a apresentar soluções de 100 kWh para o mercado empresarial – num plano que consiste em juntar um número potencialmente infinito de baterias que multiplica a capacidade energética existente para sustentar as necessidades de uma pequena cidade de 100 mil pessoas. Na apresentação feita por Elon Musk, chegou a referir-se quantos destes aparelhos seriam necessários para satisfazer as necessidades energéticas do mundo: 2 mil milhões.

 

in Observador

TESTLA

The wait is over! On April 30th, at its design studio in Hawthorne, California, Tesla Motors Inc. will unveil its new product line, and it’s not a car.  In an email sent out to investors and analysts on Tuesday, it was reported that Tesla would be announcing a home battery and utility-scale battery.

Khobi Brooklyn, a Tesla spokeswoman, said that “we’ll share more information next week.”

We had gotten rumor of this new battery back in February when Elon Musk discussed it during an earnings call, but no additional details were made available at that time.  In just under a week, we will finally be able get those details. How much will they cost? What hardware will be used and supported? Will these build upon the concepts in existing home batteries? Are they rechargeable? If not are they recyclable?

Tesla announced last September its plans to build a new Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, 62 million has been spent so far. When all is said and done an estimated $5 billion will be spent on this project. Tesla plans to begin building lithium-ion batteries at this facility in 2017.  The lithium-ion battery technology is being positioned to be the front runner in emerging energy storage that also provides supplementary electricity.  Could this technology ultimately threaten our traditional electric grid? These new batteries when combined with the rapidly expanding residential solar market present exciting new opportunity’s for off the grid living.

Tesla has teamed up with SolarCity, a company chaired by Musk and ran by his cousin Lyndon Rive.  Founded in 2006, the company has over 160,000 customers and controls almost 40% of the residential market.  Solarcity installs panels for both commercial and residential applications and leases them for less than what you pay on your energy bill, and they sell surplus energy back to local utility’s.  This model has proven to be extremely successful for SolarCity. They have begun installing Tesla batteries mostly in commercial buildings at this time.  The batteries allow them to store excess energy for use during peak hours.  This has shown to shave off 20-30 percent of energy bills.  Solar City is currently running a pilot program with around 500 homes in California.  The project is using 10-killowatt-hour battery packs that supply homes with about 2 days of power in the event of an outage.

Electric cars, space exploration, low-cost wireless internet for anyone, and now home batteries.  Tesla Motors Inc has shown us that they are not just car makers, it begs to question what does Tesla have in store for the future?