Elon Musk announced during Tesla's quarterly earnings call on Feb. 12, Tuesday, that his company is in the process of developing a battery to power homes and offices. He adds production for Tesla home battery could start in about six months.
The Tesla home battery is a lithium-ion battery that can be used as energy storage in homes and businesses. Musk says the design is already done and production will start soon in about six months or so, while product unveiling would probably be in a month or two.
Musk wants his battery to fulfill the demands of the energy grid, according to Information Week. Theoretically, homeowners can use the Tesla battery to store energy gathered through a solar panel placed on the roof.
Storing the energy from the sun in a battery is key, according to Quartz, because the sun may not be shining when people need it or shines when they don't need it. In addition to storing energy, the battery could help people save money on their electric bills by selling excess energy back into the grid.
Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel said during the conference call that there's "a lot of interest" for the Tesla battery. He adds the company is working closely with utilities regarding the upcoming product.
If battery storage is widely adopted, it has the potential to "fundamentally change" the dynamics the electric utility industry, Dan Wilson, a renewable energy and energy efficiency consultant at Black & Veatch, told InformationWeek via email.
On the other hand, some believe Tesla could be a threat to electricity utilities. But others say it is not likely that many people would go off the grid as it seems to be illegal in some states and for Musk's cousin Peter Rive, CTO of Solar City, going off the grid may cause undesirable network effects.