Tesla has retooled its strategy for selling people with solar panels on batteries to store excess energy before the company even sold its first units.
The electric automaker unveiled a new suite of batteries last May, called Powerwalls, for homes and businesses. However, it quietly dropped its 10 kilowatt-hour device, the larger of its two residential batteries. Originally marketed as a backup power supply in case of grid-wide blackout, the $3,500 unit wasn’t as affordable as other alternatives, especially given that solar panels are sold separately.
Instead, the company said it plans to focus on its 7 kilowatt-hour Powerwall, meant for storing excess solar energy generated throughout the day for use at night or when the sun isn’t shining.
“We have seen enormous interest in the Daily Powerwall worldwide,” Tesla wrote in a statement emailed to The Huffington Post on Thursday. “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 the interest, we have decided to focus entirely on building and deploying the 7 kWh Daily Powerwall at this time.”