Tesla Powerwall coming to SA

07 May 2015 - 02:19 By Staff reporter, AFP

A battery that allows electricity users to go off the grid cheaply will be available in South Africa by the end of next year. Stephen Gous, MyBroadband head of operations at BrightBlack, said yesterday that batteries similar to the Tesla Powerwall are already available in South Africa - but the price is prohibitive.The technology is not revolutionary, but the big difference with the Powerwall is that it is going to be priced a lot more competitively, with a 7kWh unit going for $3000 (about R36000), and a 10kWh unit for $3500 (about R42000).Both options will be guaranteed for 10 years and will be able to power most homes during peak evening hours."This allows you to be completely off grid," Elon Musk, the Tesla Motors CEO, told AFP." The Tesla system is ideally suited to meeting the power provisioning challenges faced by South African businesses and individuals ," Soltra Energy boss Jack Ward said.The Tesla Powerwall can store power from solar panels, from the electricity grid at night when it is typically cheaper, and provide a secure backup in the case of a power outage.In theory, the device, which typically would fit on the wall of a garage or inside a house, could make solar-powered homes completely independent of the traditional energy grid."The goal is complete transformation of the entire energy infrastructure of the world, to completely sustainable, zero-carbon," Musk told reporters.The device will go on sale in the US later this year. But the aim is to roll it out internationally next year."It's analogous to the way mobile leap-frogged landlines," Musk said. "This is going to be really great for the poorest communities in the world." ..

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