The big day is here: Tesla’s much-anticipated product unveiling. Here is everything we know so far leading up to tonight’s reveal at the company’s Hawthorne, CA, facility:
Two products, not one
Last month, the battery/electric car company’s CEO Elon Musk said Tesla would announce something that wasn’t a car on April 30 at its Hawthorne, CA facility. This week, further information came out revealing the unveiling would actually be of two products: a home battery and a utility scale battery.
Home battery details
Details leaked about a home battery that owners could charge overnight using electricity from their local utility, then power their houses the following day on solely the charged product. The battery would also be able to keep a home’s power running during a blackout. Rumors have surfaced that the new battery may include an option to store power generated by wind turbines and solar panels.
Already in existence
SolarCity has already tested the Tesla batteries on about 500 California homes. The products have also been installed on some commercial buildings like Walmart stores to help them rely less on electricity supplied by the utility during peak hours when rates are highest.
Lease option
As Utility Dive reported, the home battery will also have a lease option for customers for a $1500 initial payment, and $15 monthly payments for the following 10 years. The cost to own the home battery will reportedly be $13,000.
Necessity of gigafactory
Tesla has been in the process of building the world’s largest lithium-ion battery plant in Reno, NV. Business Insider reports each home battery will contain 8,000 li-ion cells, but there aren’t enough of those cells being produced to power the new products. With the implementation of its home and utility batteries, Tesla will need to build the factory as quickly as possible to meet demand.
Impact on homeowners and utilities
Some utilities fear the new home batteries could give owners with solar panels the opportunity to "go off the grid" by generating enough of their own power—and having the ability to store it—to no longer need electricity from local companies. Experts predict Tesla’s new product could deal a serious blow to American and European utilities.
The products’ unveiling will occur tonight, April 30, at 8 p.m. PST, or 11 p.m. EST.
