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Tesla's $13,000 battery could keep your home online in a blackout | Technology | The Guardian
“Tesla isn’t expected to spill the beans about its battery system until Thursday, but thanks to investment analyst Trip Chowdhry, we have some details ahead of the big announcement,” Benjamin Preston reports for The Guardian. “Built to work in concert with residential solar power setups, the Tesla battery system is basically an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that is large enough to keep refrigerators, routers, lights and other devices powered up when storms and other unforeseen incidents take grid power out of commission.”
“The system is offered, currently, in 10 and 15 kwh configurations to solar customers who do not own electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids; the battery pack costs about $13,000, and Pacific Gas & Electric offers a 50% rebate for using the system (presumably because it can be used to decrease load on the grid during peak use hours); financing is set up for the customer to make an initial $1,500 payment, followed by $15 monthly payments for 10 years (at the end of which the battery is returned to SolarCity); Tesla has permission from customers to monitor data from the systems; and Tesla packages the battery pack in what Chowdhry described as an attractive cabinet, available in white or a dark color,” Preston reports.
“Why install a battery system at home? Chowdhry pointed to customers relying upon constant connection with ‘the digital highway,’ noting that it could take up to 45 minutes to re-power devices and re-set digital clocks when the power went out,” Preston reports. “‘If you are a gadget person living a digital life – you have iPhones and computers and you always want to be connected – the storage battery is a dream come true,’ he said.”