Tesla made news again recently for discontinuing one highly-anticipated product and accepting down payments on another.
Powerwall
Tesla announced recently that it has discontinued its much-discussed 10-kWh residential battery and has pulled all references to it from its website and press kit.
A smaller system, called the Daily Powerwall, is still being built, the company said.
In simple terms, the Powerwall stores energy. It is designed to bank excess energy produced from a home’s solar energy system during a sunny day for use at night or to provide backup power if the grid is down. Some industry analysts believe that it could eventually revolutionize how homes and businesses get their energy–instead of being reliant on a utility, they simply could power their own buildings by converting energy from the sun.
However, the lithium-ion battery solution is extremely costly, about 30 percent higher than traditional lead-acid batteries that are used in most backup systems. A&R continues to monitor these developments and will be installing Powerwall systems once they become available.
Model 3
While retooling its battery strategy, Tesla scored big with electric vehicle fans by opening up its yet-to-be-released Model 3.
Within a week, more than 325,000 people paid a $1,000 down payment on the Model 3, which has a $35,000 starting price.
A $7,500 federal tax credit is helping to drive all of those down payments. However, the tax credit is limited to the first 200,000 cars from any manufacturer.
Many EV owners are also solar energy system owners, opting to charge their vehicles through renewable energy. A typical driver would need about 3 kW worth of solar to power 100 percent of the EV’s annual energy needs.