US electric car maker Tesla Motors has unveiled batteries that power homes and businesses as it attempts to expand beyond its electric vehicle ventures.
CEO Elon Musk announced the firm will build batteries that store solar energy and serve as a back-up system for consumers during blackouts, jsut as standard lead acid solar batteries have done for years.
The device/s will allow consumers to get off a power grid or bring energy to remote areas that are not on a grid, connect to each-other over the internet to create Local Smart Grid systems, first shipping to Germany outside the US in 2016.
“Our goal is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy,” Musk told a press conference at the Tesla Design Center on Thursday night. “It sounds crazy, but we want to change the entire energy infrastructure of the world to zero carbon.”
A great vision, however, as positive as this is I just wonder where all the rare earth metals etc are going to come from???