According to the press release (via Electrek), Tiny House uses a 2-kilowatt solar system combined with a Powerwall to make it completely renewable. Inside the house is a mobile design studio and a configurator to help home owners calculate how their home can create clean energy from the sun using solar panels. All energy stored in the Powerwall and used through the day and night can be controlled and monitored using the Tesla app.
The structure itself is 2.2 tons and measures nearly 20 feet long, just over 7 feet wide, and about 13 feet tall. The exterior is clad in locally sourced, chemical-free, sustainable timber. Pulling it along on the tour is a Tesla Model X “to educate the public on how to generate, store, and use renewable energy for their home.”
Tesla’s Tiny House began its tour in Melbourne, Australia, going next to Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide. People can also request a location through Tesla’s website.
Currently, Australia is a very important market for Tesla. The country has 15 percent of its households using rooftop solar for a total of 1.5 million households across Australia. Per capita, that is larger than anywhere else in the world. Even outside the residential market, Tesla is focusing on Australia at the utility level, too. They recently won a contract for a massive energy storage system to help stabilize the South Australia grid after suffering from numerous outages.
Despite all this support, Tesla has never sold solar installations in Australia, just the Powerwall. The reason for this is that the service is linked with SolarCity, which operated in the United States and Mexico. With Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, this could change relatively soon.
For people still on the fence about solar energy, Tesla has made that decision much easier. The company’s new solar roofing costs less to create and install than other traditional roofing materials such as slate or terra cotta. It is also much more durable, important in areas with hail storms.
