Tesla’s home battery is undervalued

According to the Wall Street Journal, more and more homeowners around the world are beginning to experiment with household batteries. This product claims to be able to store electrical energy at ordinary times for occasional needs in the future. For example, during the peak period of power grid failure or soaring electricity prices during stormy weather, these batteries can provide households with economical backup power.

Thanks to the vigorous promotion of solar and battery equipment suppliers such as Tesla, Samsung Electronics, and Sunverge Energy, American homeowners can choose ready-made household batteries or participate in solar pilot projects organized by local utility companies. As solar power has become more popular and affordable in the United States, household batteries have begun to receive more attention.

But for now, the economic benefits that household batteries can bring may be as insignificant as bank interest. Battery equipment sells for thousands of dollars and is usually not powerful enough to power the entire family. Take the Powerwall household battery currently on sale on Tesla’s official website as an example. The price of 5,500 US dollars plus an additional 700 US dollars of supporting hardware costs, the installation fee will also charge up to 2,000 US dollars. According to data from the Tesla website, a 14-kilowatt-hour battery can provide a day’s electricity support for the lighting, sockets and refrigerators in a three-bedroom.

Although it is difficult to directly compare the prices of household generators and household batteries due to factors such as fuel cost and power, the former is usually cheaper. A 16-kilowatt generator from Home Depot, which uses natural gas or liquid propane as fuel, costs less than $4,000. As long as the fuel is continuously supplied, the service life is almost unlimited.

In the United States, most of the demand for the household batteries market comes from energy-conscious homeowners who want to get off the grid and residents living in areas with high electricity prices such as Hawaii. Electricity prices in Hawaii are more than twice the US average, but the Hawaiian government has been restricting the sale of private solar power equipment for safety reasons.