On 02/05/15 12:23, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 02 May 2015 09:49:54 GMT, Lobster
wrote:

This gadget made the main headline of The Times today - here's a non-
paywalled-version from the Mail:

http://tinyurl.com/l3hlslv (or
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...la-set-reveal-
home-battery-Elon-Musk-unveil-power-pack-tonight-slash-electricity-
bills.html)

Quite surprised never to have heard of this before, especially (AFAICS) in
this ng.

Thoughts? Shall I go and buy a PowerWall then?!

Tesla have a track record in such batteries, with their Roadster car.
I'm not sure that a 7kWh battery is really worth having, nor even the
larger capacity 10kWh version. Might keep the fridge/freezer cold and
the TV/computer running for a few hours during a power cut, but not a
lot more. Better, would be the battery they use in their car, with a
decent 53kWh capacity. If everyone had one of these, with 'smart'
electronics, then they would contribute significantly to grid storage
and could take advantage of times when there was excess available on
the grid. A snip at $36,000, weighs a mere 450kg (about 4 times the
ones mentioned above), and with an expected life of all of 7 years,
how could anyone not have one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_R...Battery_system

Bring the price down significantly, extend the life a lot, and maybe,
just maybe, there's a workable system there. But as TNP will tell you,
that's a lot of energy stored in a small volume. Could be really messy
if it gets damaged or shorts out and goes bang.


Still costs more to store it than it does to generate it.



--
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll