By NewsGram Staff Writer
A lot of businesses are leveraging the power of the sun by making use of solar panels. However, most of them are left baffled after the sun sets, largely because they are inept at using solar energy when the sun is not shining.
Tesla motors, an American electric car design and manufacturing company aims to change all that. It has decided to manufacture batteries that store solar energy and serve as a back-up system for consumers during blackouts.
The announcement was made at an event near Los Angeles where Tesla's Chief Executive Elon Musk said that the move could help change the "entire energy infrastructure of the world."
This change would be brought about by allowing consumers to get off a power grid or bring energy to remote areas that are not on a grid.
Musk said that Tesla Energy would partner with SolarCity, though more companies are expected to join the fray. The system is known as Powerwall and will begin shipping in the US by this summer.
"If you have the Tesla Powerwall, if the utility goes down, you still have power," Mr. Musk said.
According to the company, Tesla Energy is a critical step in the mission to enable zero emission power generation.
"The whole thing is an integrated system that just works."
Analysts say the rechargeable lithium-ion battery unit will be built using the same batteries Tesla produces for its electric vehicles.
The system comes in two units: Tesla will sell the 7kWh unit for $3,000 (£1,954), while the 10kWh unit will retail for $3,500 (£2,275) to installers.
Energy comparison firm USwitch estimates that one kWh can power two days of work on a laptop, a full washing machine cycle or be used to boil a kettle 10 times.
The batteries will be connected to the Internet and can be managed by Tesla from afar.
Customers can connect up to nine battery packs to store larger amounts of power.
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