Last Updated: Oct 25, 2021
The Tesla Powerwall 2 is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery to power your home during peak times, outages, and at night. The Powerwall can recharge from solar or by the grid during off-peak hours to reduce costs. During power outages, solar panels will continue to charge the Powerwall and the house. Before options like this, you'd have to rely on large, expensive battery banks, and additional energy would be wasted or sent back to the grid if that was an option in your area.
Solar panels absorb photons (sunlight) in a rooftop installation to create DC electricity. DC cannot be used in the home and has to be converted to AC electricity with an inverter. The produced energy can be used to power your house, fed back into the grid (if applicable), or stored using your Tesla Powerwall. You can manage all of this using a cloud-based app. Tesla's Powerwall 2 offers one of the best ratios for energy storage in the US. One Powerwall 2 stores 13.5 kWh, basically enough to run your major appliances for a total of 24 hours. It also comes with the inverter mentioned above.
The Tesla Powerwall has a US MSRP of $9,250. Supporting hardware for installation costs $1,550, and the estimated installation cost is $1,300 to $3,900, which is dependent on available professionals in your area. We also suggest keeping an eye out for energy rebates in your area that may help you reduce costs.
The Tesla Powerwall 2 comes with a 10-year warranty.
Based on the average home consuming 28 kWh/day, one Powerwall will be able to power a home for 12 hours. Two Powerwall's will power a home for 18 hours, and three Powerwall's will run a home for 24 hours.
The Tesla app allows you to monitor and control your Powerwall remotely on iOS and Android. The app will enable you to see how much energy is stored from solar, current power consumption, and the amount of energy your home is exporting back to the grid.
As efficient as it is stylish, the Powerwall is entirely automated, low profile, and requires no maintenance. The Tesla Powerwall 2 has double the storage capacity of the Tesla Powerwall 1, coming in at 13.5kWh. Additional Tesla Powerwall 2's can be added to increase total storage capacity.
For information on Tesla Powerwall 2 alternatives, check out this extensive list or read our 6 Best Battery Power Options (with Prices)
Nick Pfitzner was the first owner of a Tesla Powerwall in Australia. The original Powerall has a 7 kWh storage capacity. He says he has eliminated 90% of his power bill and that his family has become "smarter" while using their appliances.
“I have absolutely no regrets”
Mr. Pfitzner told 702 ABC Sydney. He cautions that the cost of the system is still high and may not pay for itself by the time the warranty runs out at ten years, although close. Pfitzner spent $16,000 installing solar panels and their home battery system, the first version of the Powerwall, holding 7 kWh.
He says that his panels power the house on a sunny day and have the battery charged by 11 am. At that point, if solar power is abundant, the excess is fed back into the grid. Pfitzner dreams of enhancing the Powerwall system that can predict cloudy weather and charge the battery ahead of time with off-peak pricing.
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