Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, unveiled the company’s newest product, Powerwall, on Thursday night at a gala kickoff event. But the big batteries for homes carry risks for the company, says Monica Giulietti, of London’s Warwick Business School.
“Our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy,” Musk told reporters gathered in Hawthorne, Calif. The system isn’t cheap, ranging from $3,000 to $3,5000 plus installation. They are designed to be linked to solar panels.
And Musk is excited;
Reported The Associated Press: “Musk is so encouraged by the initial demand that he believes Tesla and other future entrants in the market will be able to sell 2 billion battery packs around the world — roughly the same number of vehicles already on roads. Although that may sound like a ‘super crazy’ goal, Musk insisted it ‘is within the power of humanity to do.'”
The risks
But Giulietti, an Associate Professor of Global Energy who researches energy storage, offered this analysis:
“This is an interesting development in the energy storage industry as Tesla’s involvement in the stationary storage market can support the progress towards affordable storage by leveraging their expertise in battery technology for electric vehicles.
“There are two main risks involved in this move: first that the battery technology is superseded by more efficient systems such as fuel cells. In general a lot of research is still being done about the effective way to store power and no technology has clearly emerged yet in terms of storage performance and affordability.
“Secondly, due to this risk it is unlikely that, apart from some eager early adopters, the majority of potential consumers will be prepared to invest in this relatively new technology due to the risk of being locked in with an obsolete technology.”
