TESLA: In 6 months we will start producing battery packs that can power a home
"We are going to unveil the Tesla home battery, the consumer battery that would be for use in people's houses or businesses fairly soon," said Elon Musk, according to Bloomberg.
On the company's earnings call, CTO JB Straubel said Tesla will likely hold an event in the next "month or two" to reveal the battery, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. Then, it's going to go into production in "about six months or so."
What is this battery? Straubel didn't go into deep detail. He just said, "It's really great. I'm really excited about it."
This isn't the first time Tesla talked about a battery for the home. The Verge reports:
On an earnings call last year Musk had laid out his ambition to make something that would live in consumers' homes, instead of their cars. "We are trying to figure out what would be a cool stationary (battery) pack," Musk said. "Some will be like the Model S pack: something flat, 5 inches off the wall, wall mounted, with a beautiful cover, an integrated bi-directional inverter, and plug and play."
"The long-term demand for stationary energy storage is extraordinary," added JB Straubel, Tesla's chief technical officer, during that call. "We've done a huge amount of effort there and have talked to major utilities and energy service companies." That plan seems like it's now much closer to a reality the company can share with the public.
Tesla is getting crushed today after it missed analyst expectations, and revealed plans to spend a "staggering" amount on capital expenditures.