SolarCity & Tesla Motors Team Up to Offer Off-Grid Living

SolarCity and Tesla have teamed up in an interesting new partnership. As we’ve saying, mixing solar panels with home batteries seems increasingly attractive with the prices of both dropping so fast. Now, this top solar power company and top (electric car)/battery company is offering a packaged deal that could get a lot more people off the grid. More from Gas2:

Tesla Motors Teams With SolarCity For Off-The-Grid Homes (via Gas 2.0)

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, has ensured that his company is more than just a car company. If anything, Tesla Motors is a battery company, selling its lithium-ion battery packs to the likes of Toyota, Daimler, and now SolarCity, installer of solar panels. The two companies have been working for…

Zachary Shahan (2291 Posts)

I'm the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular clean energy website in the world, and Planetsave, a leading green and science news site. I've been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and I've been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, bicycling, and wind energy for the past few years. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Think Progress, GE's ecomagination site, several sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. To connect on your favorite social network, go to: zacharyshahan.com

Harpaulsandhu

elon musk . I SALUTE YOU .WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS JUST BEYOND WORDS TO BETTER SOCIETY I WISH WALL STREET
SHOULD TAKE LESSON AND EXPAND AWARENESS
Charles Blum

Just installed a nat. gas generator, but with my Tesla S due by 2013, would like to explore the PV battery arrangement. Eggs in different baskets, or something to that effect.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
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Dcard88

4 kW system – $15-$20K, 4kWh batteries – $5K Subsidies/rebates? Doubt it.

Won’t work for A/C though. Maybe a small window unit in the bedroom. Would still need a small backup generator ($500-$1000 plus fuel) for the cloudy days when not enough power generated to charge the batteries completely?
- Hats
  
  IN the very short term yes. But it seemed like the article is taking a mid to long term view. Who’s to say in that time frame if you would even have A/C?
  
  You can design out or at least minimise the A/C Capacity needed with passive systems eg. Air flow/ high thermal mass, insulation and/or shading.
  
  A fresh build would supplant the AC costs with the slightly higher extra design/construction costs. (remember to include Maintenance and A/C operating cost in this)