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Is Tesla planning to beat blackouts with home back-up batteries?

Tesla is expected to announce a pair of new batteries which could change the way we use energy at home. 

The California-based electric cars company has confirmed that it’s to launch a new product on April 30 but declined to elucidate. 

It’s thought that the company behind the startling Model S will lift the curtain on two new energy cells, one aimed at home users and one aimed at businesses, which could signal the end of power cuts and brown-outs, saving money and time. 

Tesla’s co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, is a man involved in plenty of projects, but one of his quieter ventures is SolarCity, a company which provides solar panels and, formerly, home energy storage by way of Tesla batteries. It’s believed that the company’s battery tech has finally reached maturity and is ready for the big time. 

The current batteries are about the same size as the average solar power inverter, which is roughly the same dimensions as a small suitcase. They come in an unassuming white box and can be mounted to the side of a home or business without much fuss.

Aside from preventing power outages, which cost businesses a fortune in lost hours and data, the batteries could homes and companies to charge up during off-peak hours, when energy is at its cheapest, and run their hardware off the stored power during peak times.

The price of energy has been a staple talking point for the average Briton for years now, since the major energy companies decided to ramp up their prices regardless of the wholesale costs involved, leading millions into fuel poverty, in which folk have to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel, in order to cook, wash and heat their home.

Accessible battery technology could improve the lot of many of those afflicted by the issue and would also allow for more effective load balancing.

Load balancing, when power stations store excess energy during times of low demand, could be taken into the home, albeit on a much smaller scale. Smart energy company Climote has spoken of plans to revolutionise home heating in the future by adopting a similar principle

Taking the load off the grid during peak hours could also have the positive knock-on effect of energy companies, burning less fossil fuel. Folks who already have a comprehensive solar panel setup could also make use of them to bank as much energy as possible while the sun’s shining, something which might not always work in this soggy and septic isle. 

We’ll know more about what Tesla has in store for us once Musk makes his grand announcement. 

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