When Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s new Powerwall home battery last May, people were so enthusiastic about the innovative home energy solution that it completely sold out in less than a week. Roughly 38,000 preorders flooded in shortly after the announcement, effectively back-ordering the Powerwall to around mid-2016 — i.e. just two months from right now. Though while those early adopters helped produce a considerable amount of support for Tesla’s revolutionary device, just this week the company quietly decided to discontinue its inaugural 10kWh Powerwall.
Despite the company’s decision to discontinue its original Powerwall model, it does still offer a smaller, 7kWh version it calls the Daily Powerwall. Similar to its 10kWh older brother, the Daily Powerwall boasts an impressive set of features that might even satisfy those pining for the larger model. Capable of storing solar and wind energy, the 7kWh Powerwall also allows owners to use net metering in which they can send excess electricity back into their grid for credit. Though smaller, it can also act as a backup source of energy, essentially allowing users to store energy when utility prices are low, then use that power if prices get too high.
“We have seen enormous interest in the Daily Powerwall worldwide,” a Tesla representative tells Green Tech Media. “The Daily Powerwall supports daily use applications like solar self-consumption plus backup power applications, and can offer backup simply by modifying the way it is installed in a home. Due to interest, we have decided to focus entirely on building and deploying the 7-kilowatt-hour Daily Powerwall at this time.”
Thing is, Tesla has separately announced that it intends to release a 10kWh Powerwall 2.0 around July or August of this year. While speaking to Tesla car owners in January, Musk detailed the release plan for what he called the Tesla Powerwall and Tesla Powerpack. Moreover, he said to expect “version two of the Powerwall probably around July, August,” acknowledging that the new model would see advances in capabilities. However, the talk was a quickfire Q&A, and Musk didn’t specifically say what the advances would be.
Currently, it’s unknown when (or if) Tesla will begin accepting preorders for the next generation Powerwall, but with “July, August” rapidly approaching, it’s likely the company will make some form of formal announcement in the coming months.
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