Oh hi. I'm Elon Musk. Just changing the world again.

[Richard Feynman]

http://www.teslamotors.com/powerwall

Another day, another game-changer for humanity and a huge disruption to a long established industry.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

He must have figured out time travel already and has come back from the future...
He's not of this planet.

 

[DEC]

The off the grid abode is looking more viable by the minute.
Water tanks, waterless compostable toilets and now this.

 

[spludgey]

He must have figured out time travel already and has come back from the future...
He's not of this planet.

I always thought that he looks more of a vampire than an alien though...

But yes, I agree, very exciting announcement. I can't wait until they come to Australia, though I'm a little bit pessimistic about their pricing here.

Personally, I'll probably wait until I can get LiFePO[sub]4[/sub] batteries for the same price. I'm only paying $50 a quarter in electricity anyway.

 

[Richard Feynman]

He's not of this planet.

And if his grand plans come to fruition, neither will be many of our children.

 

[Terry_w]

Thanks Richard. Looked at the video and this will be great.

 

[Richard Feynman]

I always thought that he looks more of a vampire than an alien though...

80-100 hour weeks might do that.

 

[JohnMichael]

He's fascinating, if you read about him. A physics brain, coupled with that of a brilliant entrepreneur, inspired to change/save the world by reading loads of comic books when he was young! Love watching whatever he's currently up to.

 

[j_p]

Wow, very nice and priced accessibly too.

 

[miximitosis]

Yea I've definitely got a man crush on him. Super inspirational...... Seriously, if there is people in the world doing these sorts of things there is no way in hell I can't reach the goals I have which are minuscule in comparison!

Paypal
SpaceX
Tesla
and his proposed hyperloop ( https://youtu.be/lzSQN1innBs ) to name a few....

Oh, and he's only 43 btw.....

 

[jerrybee]

Shouldn't this scare the pants of long established energy industries? So many people already have solar hooked up - it's not even theoretical at this point. Just hook up the battery and bam, regular energy usage would go down drastically.

 

[lizzie]

This is really exciting - although I'll give it a couple of years for the price point to come down and the quality goes up - just like the panels themselves did over around a 10 year period.

I'd be selling out of energy asap (if I held any).

 

[chindonly]

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

 

[Terry_w]

A few solar panels and one of these and you could be off the grid totally. It seems one may be enough for a small household. Not sure how many solar panels you would need, but for about $10,000 you could probably do it.

 

[spludgey]

A few solar panels and one of these and you could be off the grid totally. It seems one may be enough for a small household. Not sure how many solar panels you would need, but for about $10,000 you could probably do it.

5kW solar and 20kWh storage minimum I would say to have a low risk of running out of electricity at any point and that will only work if you've got quite a low consumption already.

 

[jerrybee]

I assume most would still be connected to mainline power, just as a backup or to supplement a period of poor weather, but even then this is going to have a colossal impact on standard grid energy consumption. As the other guy said I would be selling down energy if I still had it. I used to hold Origin.

 

[chindonly]

I assume most would still be connected to mainline power, just as a backup or to supplement a period of poor weather, but even then this is going to have a colossal impact on standard grid energy consumption. As the other guy said I would be selling down energy if I still had it. I used to hold Origin.

I reckon the power companies will start charging a motza just to have a mainline connection, even if you don't use it. Network fees are about half most bills now?

Maybe a small backup generator for the 10 or 15 days a year you may need it, so essentially totally off the grid!

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

Battery tech is the one thing holding me back from a large solar array on my roof. My power usage just doesn't suit the current systems, but once battery storage is viable then it will be a very different story.

 

[Mooze]

Removes a large portion of the need to gold plate the energy grid as has happened the last few years.

 

[4GH1RH]

I believe we have been exploited on energy costs (as with many other living expenses in Australia - data charges for one!). As a huge sunny, wide open country you would think energy would be cheap... but it's not...

The potential is huge. Imagine schools with their huge roof spaces not having to pay a power bill ever again, and feeding back in after hours to the kids that live in their area. Three months of the year schools would be generating power night and day for families. Sadly the $50,000 solar grants for schools were just political grandstanding - I know of some that are not even operational.

I'd love to buy a Tesla and go off grid, and watch the energy companies beg to buy back because their fossil fueled efforts have stalled! 46c may be achievable again?

Maybe we will see something like Uber where people will buy power from local vendors in their suburb? Energy units with coded packet info, saleable to anyone globally?

(Rushes off to register UberPower.com etc...)