Tesla’s Powerwall 2 launched recently and we’re wondering what’s new inside that sleek new chassis. The Powerwall 2’s previous incarnation caused a real stir when it debuted in 2015, but two years on, what do we have?
The product launch told us…
This storage solution is benefitting from the decrease in lithium-ion battery production costs and consumers will see pretty much a doubling of the energy capacity in the Powerwall 2 and its Powerpack for a modest price increase of around 25%.
It’s all very well when products like smartphones feature new colours and form factors, but take-up relies on people’s subjective judgements. Power capacity and price, however, are definites – everyone wants more power as cheaply as possible and it looks like Tesla has played a blinder here.
The numbers
The Powerwall 2 offers 7kWh of power and 14kWh of storage. The average US household uses around 30kWh a day, so just two Powerwalls acting in tandem would sort out the average home.
This sort of capacity takes solar out of the “it’s great on a sunny day and it shaves off 20% of our bills” territory and puts it right in the middle of things.
Homeowners no longer need inverters
The best news, besides the new power capacity, was that the new Powerwall doesn’t need an external inverter, so users will save loads of space and time. The fact the inverter is inside the casing means that there’s much less chance of any errors being made during installation. Connecting the Powerwall to an external inverter occasionally caused problems.
Finally, the looks
The first Powerwall had rounded edges and looked cute and organic. The Powerwall 2 has gone all square and no-nonsense and this isn’t just an aesthetic decision on Tesla’s part, it allies form more closely with function. The curving shell of the first iteration couldn’t support the weight of the batteries too well and it also meant it was difficult to mount the Powerwall on the ground – it had to be fixed to a wall.
The Powerwall 2 is all about the right angles and this means users can stack multiple units back-to-back without sacrificing any more wall space. Same area, but twice the power!
If you’re interested in the future of solar batteries, why not call us for a quick chat?
