Dive Brief:
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Electric carmaker Tesla is set to move into the building products arena with a battery that can power homes and businesses.
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CEO Elon Musk announced Monday that the Silicon Valley-based manufacturer will unveil a product that is “not a car” on April 30, Fortune reported. Industry observers have predicted that is when the company will introduce its home battery.
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Bloomberg reported last month that the maker of the Model S sedan “is using its lithium–ion battery technology to position itself as a frontrunner in the emerging energy-storage market that supplements and may ultimately threaten the traditional electric grid.”
Dive Insight:
Tesla already sells a limited number of residential energy-storage units through solar power firm SolarCity Corp., and is working on larger units for businesses and utilities.
Tesla’s entry into the solar-energy market could allow more homeowners to generate enough of their own power to “go off the grid” and stop buying electricity from utilities. Bloomberg reported that Morgan Stanley predicted the carmaker’s energy-storage product could be “disruptive” to utilities in the U.S. and Europe.
