Elon Musk (Photo : REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)
Tesla shares rose by 3.5 percent after CEO Elon Musk revealed that the company is ready to manufacture home batteries that can power homes and let them go 'off the grid'.
Musk hinted on Monday that the electric car manufacturer is aiming to produce something different, but it is "not a car." It was later unveiled that Tesla is building batteries to power homes and businesses.
"We're going to unveil the Tesla home battery, or consumer battery, that will be for use in people's houses or businesses, fairly soon," Musk said.
Tesla may have developed the technology while working on batteries used in its electric vehicles. The company is planning powerful batteries that can power entire home, with a technology to store solar power during daytime and power homes at night.
"The sort of thing we have in mind is something that looks a bit like the battery pack in the Model S... something really flat... coming just five inches off the wall, a beautiful cover, integrated bidirectional inverter, and it's just plug and play," Musk told, according to Bloomberg.
Tesla is already providing batteries to Solar City, its partner, which are sold in small parts of California, but it could really be large-scale.
World's biggest battery production facility, a $5 billion Tesla project in Nevada is already taking shape. Musk says it can cut the price of battery storage by as much as 30 percent, according to Fortune.
But that will happen only if the batteries are powerful enough to utilize solar cells to provide sufficient power a standard home can consume.
Meanwhile, it can really turn out to be a great deal for Tesla. The news immediately impacted company shares. The share-rise was not a surprise though.
Tesla is not alone on the path; GE, Samsung and Honda are also planning something similar.
Power without the grid could be exciting, only if it turns out to be something that delivers according to expectations.
