Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this year that the company was already working on second generation Powerwall, Tesla’s home battery pack. He made the following comment during an exclusive event for Tesla owners in Paris:
“We are coming up with the version 2 of the Powerwall probably around July or August of this year, which will see further step changes in capabilities.”
Now it looks like the company is on or ahead of schedule with the updated device. A Tesla representative has confirmed some of the improvements featured in the new version and that installation will start “in the next few weeks.”
GTM describes the changes confirmed by Tesla:
“The main changes are a simplification to the handling and wiring requirements for installers, as well as the introduction of Powerwall compatibility with inverters from SMA, the global residential PV inverter company. SMA is the world’s largest inverter manufacturer by revenue and second largest by shipments, according to GTM Research.”
The current version of the Tesla Powerwall is compatible with the SolarEdge SE7600A-USS 7.6-kW inverter which currently retails on WholesaleSolar.com for $2,944. In comparison, the new Powerwall-compatible SMA Sunny Boy Storage 2.5 is selling for €1,090 ($1,240) in Europe.
Therefore, the updated Powerwall could lower the entry cost of home energy storage even further by both lowering the cost of installation and of required hardware compatible with the device.
Recent images from Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada, where the Tesla Energy products are being manufactured, suggest that volume production of Powerwalls and Powerpacks is well-underway.
It was later confirmed in Tesla’s Q1 2016 shareholders letter, the company wrote that its ‘Tesla Energy’ divison delivered over 2,500 Powerwalls and nearly 100 Powerpacks (25 MWh total) to 4 continents last quarter.
Featured Image: Tesla Powerwall is unveiled on stage in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, April 30, 2015 (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
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