Why Tesla Energy could be the biggest technology leap in 20 years
Elon Musk could be the most inventive tech CEO on the planet. His Tesla hybrid vehicles have given traditional automotive giants a heart attack. With Space X, he is trying to bring Space travel to the masses and, at the same time, helping NASA. His "hyperloop" concept could reinvent the way humans commute.
A lot of people have ideas. However, rarely they are able to execute them and see them to fruition. That's what separates Elon Musk from most technology executives. Yes, we've had the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Page, but Elon is still different in an awesome way.
All of them have spoken about changing the world and perhaps all have done so in their own way. With Google, Larry Page has brought information to the masses with search; with Microsoft, Bill Gates brought computing to the masses and Steve Jobs reinvented how we listened to music, used the computer and the mobile phone.
But all these leaps were possible because of Intel co-founder Gordon Moore's prediction back in 1965. Now famously known as "Moore's Law", he predicted that the transistors in the microprocessor will double every year, hence doubling performance without increasing the cost. This spawned the age of the computer, the mobile phone and so forth, which enabled innovations at Microsoft, Apple and Google and many other tech companies.
What Musk is doing with Tesla Energy is not based on Moore's Law. Musk is reinventing the battery. With the solar powered PowerWall and PowerPack, he's decoupling you from the power grid. Yes, this is a massive leap in battery technology, which, by the way, does not follow Moore's Law as it is only restricted to semiconductors.
Musk spoke about the battery and one would not realise how revolutionary his announcement is. Frankly, a battery is not a glamorous product like an iPhone or an iWatch, but its impact will be lasting if Musk can live up to his promise.
So why do I believe this? The answer is simple. The PowerWall, which is a solution made for homes, is an elegant looking battery that stands vertically up against a wall offering 10 kWh in a weekly cycle and 7 kWh in a daily cycle. Tesla claims this solution should be enough to power most homes during peak evening hours. And both solutions cost $3,500 and $3,000 respectively.
As it is a 100 kg, 51.2 inch tall solution, it can fit in any home. It gets its energy from solar panels that will be installed on a terrace or roof so basically, yeah, it can fit anywhere. Also if you feel, 7 kWh or 10 kWh is less, you can daisy chain up to 9 PowerWalls together for up to 90 kWh.
The math is simple. Your fridge consumes the most power. On an average, it will consume 4.8 kWh per day according to Tesla. If you're in India, particularly in Delhi, you probably have an AC too, which will consume a similar amount of power if used all day long. Other things like your laptop, lights and TV can all be covered within 2 kWh and that's also an extreme number.
So we're talking about two PowerWalls costing $7,000 or around Rs 4.5 lakhs for a fully autonomous renewable energy solution for which Tesla will service the product for 10 years. Just do the math on your monthly electricity bill and figure out the ramifications of what Elon Musk is offering you.
This is an economic solution for an upper middle class family in New Delhi, and comes with massive environmental benefits. Leave redundancy, Tesla Energy is perhaps about self sufficiency.
Just imagine this product being in the remote parts of the country that are not connected to the grid - those remote parts of UP where Rahul Gandhi spent his time at homes that don't have electricity supply. The PowerWall will eliminate this. This is a life changing product, not for India, but for the world. The remote parts of Africa could be energised with this fully autonomous battery solution.
Musk's ambition for this project is boundless. With the Powerpack, Tesla is providing solution for industrial purposes that is infinitely scalable. It has 100 kWh battery blocks that can scale to 10 mWh or higher. This is potentially a micro grid, which can power a city or more. According to Musk, with 160 million PowerPacks, you could power the entire US and with 2 billion PowerPacks, the entire world could run on limitless renewable energy. Imagine that.
Musk has already started the journey as he is building a GigaFactory, the first of many, in Nevada. This battery technology has the potential to change the world like no other product and you probably don't know about it because it is a battery - and it's not glamorous.
It is also ironic that Tesla, named after the legendary Nikolai Tesla, started off as a car company and is finally taking a leap towards energy, something that Tesla was known for. Nikolai would be smiling somewhere up there.