
Elon Musk
CEO, TESLA
HIVE 100 PROFILEProducts
Developing the Tesla Powerwall.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk may have made headlines with the introduction of his luxury electric vehicles, but the real genius behind his ventures is the electricity that powers them. More specifically, it’s in the batteries that store that electricity.
In 2015, Musk leveraged Tesla’s automotive battery technology to launch the Powerwall residential rechargeable lithium-ion battery powered through solar energy. It is integrated into the local grid and harnesses solar energy during the day for use during the evening or when the sun is not shining. It can store energy for emergency power backups, and during an outage it can power a home independently from the grid and its reserves.
To anyone who’s ever seen a traditional, off-the-grid solar PV system—with its rows of limited-life lead-acid batteries that can leak and, if overcharged, explode—the Powerwall is revolutionary. It is indeed a power wall, taking up little more room than an average electrical panel. The Powerwall can also handle load shifting, which charges the battery only when utility rates are low and discharges energy during more expensive rate periods. Tesla says the battery can help homeowners to go net-zero, meaning their homes create as much energy as they use.
Tesla’s innovations in energy consumption and production seek to create a cleaner, smaller, and more resilient energy grid. One-third of fossil fuels consumed in the U.S. is used for electricity production. Products like the Tesla Powerwall are not only a step toward creating a net-zero home, but contribute to Musk’s goal of enabling zero-emission power generation. A big step in doing this is the recent merger of Tesla and SolarCity into a single company that will meet all needs of green consumers.
“In order for people to go en masse to sustainability, you really need to create something that doesn’t have a lot of compromises,” Musk said in a recent Los Angeles Times interview. “Easy to order, easy to install, looks great when done.”