Elon Musk's 'Tesla Home Batteries'
 

Elon Musk's extended ventures; electric cars, space travel, transportation infrastructure to even establishing a colony on Mars. Now he wants to help the battery-powered home industry.
During an earning’s call (disappointing), Mr Musk said his battery 'Gigafactory' division is going to unveil a Tesla ‘home battery’ and he will start going into production by the summer 2015! Probably based on his cars' power packs, they could be used in homes/small businesses, especially those equipped with wind or solar, renwewable power-generating sources. Utilities may embrace his storage system too. Industry rumors of a new gen (pure lithium or sodium metal) 'super battery' in the works.

Tesla*Wants to Build a*Battery for Your House - Bloomberg Business

"The issue with existing batteries, is that they suck"

Right, this will be huge! There are others already in this market, and a big company like Tesla will make a big difference. Having enough storage to get you through a night will transform our electricity grid.

I remember reading an article a few, probably 5, years ago where somebody had suggested to install large batteries in the basements of skyscrapers to store charge and balance out the demand from the grid. I think it was from MIT... not sure.

As soon as someone develops a battery/capacitor system that is comparable to gasoline, I'll be a customer.

Cool! By the time the lead-acid batteries in my folks' solar setup need to be replaced, they may be able to get one of Tesla's packs for a reasonable price! I wonder what the benefits over conventional batteries in a stationary environment would be? Weight isn't really a factor, and the size is already a "sunk cost" (their setup accommodates the current batteries). Probably would be capacity that would be the benefit.

-soD

Yeah, but Elon Musk could take a crap in a box and people would line up to pay big money for a case of it. People will pay for it, it'll increase the number of buildings with electrical storage while subsidizing the production of batteries for electric and hybrid cars. It'll also increase the market for on site electric storage, which will bring more companies into it, giving us more options.

It's a good thing.

Can they make it cheaper per kwh than a forklift traction battery?

They're not competing with that. But by selling Tesla branded home UPS systems, more people are going to be selling forklift battery systems for homeowners, which are going to be cheaper in a couple years because of it.

It's economy of scale; and it's a principle, not ploy.

I can't find my reference—I think it was a Youtube video and searching on 'pallet' points to the battery pack in the cars. So, from memory:

The 18650 cells will be aggregated into a box which will fit 5 to a standard shipping pallet. The first customer for the gigafactory's output will be Tesla, for their fast charging stations so they can pump into cars faster than they draw from the grid, and Solar City for their rooftop solar panels.

Here are two year-old stories:

SolarCity's Game-Changing Energy Storage Systems Held Up By Electricity Providers

Tesla is vertically integrating - or possibly taking an Apple/Foxconn funded manufacturing and supply chain partnership approach.

Here's another story:

Why Tesla's battery for your home should terrify utilities | The Verge