Tesla’s electric cars are just about as green as personal transportation gets, but to Elon Musk there’s still a lot of room for improvement. The electricity that powers the cars, for instance, could be generated by coal or natural gas power plants. Although those generate power more efficiently than petrol engines, there’s still a lot of emissions and wastage along the way.
Enter the Tesla Powerwall, a home battery that aims to make Tesla cars emission free on just about every level. It does this by being essentially a solar-powered power bank for your electric car. There are two versions going on sale, the first is rated at 7kWh and costs US$3,000 and the other is a US$3,500 10kWh version. Apparently, multiple units can be locked together as well.
For those with worries of the Powerwall’s lifespan, it comes with a 10 year warranty as standard, with an additional 10 year extension available. Measuring 86.1cm X 130cm X 18cm, the Powerwall comes with an internal lithium-ion battery that’s kept at optimum temperature by way of a liquid thermal control system. It’s not exactly portable, being 100 kilogrammes heavy, but it is very efficient, with about 92% round-trip DC efficiency. It can even power your house whenever there’s a black out.