Tesla's Powerwall

[davidbrady]

The Tesla Powerwall is a nifty package but unfortunately it's not as well suited to our buses as I was hoping. It's rated at 10kWh which equates to 833 Ah at 12V at a price of $3500 which looks good, but the continuous power output is only 2kW. (A paltry discharge rate of C/5). Not nearly enough for my two 4000W Xantrex inverters. I'd need four Powerwall's to satisfy my bus's needs. Two is reasonable, but four? It's a very nice form factor which would fit beautifully in my basement bays, even two would easily fit, but four? And, four really kills the price point. It appears Tesla has surrounded it's hi-tech Li-Ion battery pack with sufficient electronics to choke the power delivery. Their rationale is most likely to prolong battery lifetime and cycles. Pretty much they want to meet their 10 year warranty.