Not Steve Wozniak’s home. Image courtesy Tesla.
Apple co-founder and computer tweaker extraordinaire Steve “Woz” Wozniak is sipping on the Tesla juice with his purchase of a set of 2 Powerwalls for his Los Gatos home. Power usage at the “Woz Home” will result in an impressive payback of just 3 years on the Powerwalls.
Tesla Powerwall installation today. Not normal. 2 Powerwalls to return cheaper night energy during day. Payback in 3 years for our house. (@ Woz Home in Los Gatos, CA) https://t.co/cfac73vYpj
— Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) July 11, 2019
Steve may be new to the world of residential energy storage, but he’s no stranger to Tesla or cleantech. For many years, Woz has driven electric vehicles, from his early purchase of a Tesla Model S to his more recent addition of a Chevy Bolt in early 2017. Back then, Steve was pitting the Bolt against the Model S because he felt that it solved some of the chronic issue he had with the Tesla. “Knowing myself, [the Bolt] may replace the Tesla. A lot of complaints about the Tesla that my wife and I have are solved in this car,” he said.
After a software update our cruise control and auto steer are bricked. Constant driving for next week and no Tesla solution. (at @Tesla Supercharger in Kettleman City, CA) https://t.co/Q4XWPyVGHb
— Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) April 1, 2019
With that out of the way, he was still fully aware that Tesla still had some serious moats, like the Supercharging network. “We have a Tesla but there is no other EV choice that’s good for road trips. The Bolt will need some personal testing by Janet and myself to find out how it is on road trips. Otherwise, it’s what we want. Extra features aren’t the big picture, or we’d have skipped the Tesla for a Mercedes.”
As critical as he is of Tesla, Woz is at his core, an engineer. That passion for trying new things has led him back to the well at Tesla for a dose of its residential energy storage product. I’m sure the savings don’t help, as his local utility’s rate plan translates to a 3-year payback on a pair of Powerwalls.
When you have to charge you have to charge. Again we are hogging spots for 3 Tesla’s! (@ Tesla Supercharger in Hays, KS) https://t.co/sZKSafAJHB pic.twitter.com/1RdHxGGyca
— Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) May 3, 2019
With all his experience with computers, programming, products, and tweaking, hacking into the impressive intelligence in Tesla’s battery systems seems like a logical next step. Either that or he goes back to his hardware roots and builds his own as a side project in his garage a la Jehu Garcia.
If you’re in the market for a Tesla, feel free to use my Tesla Referral code for your purchase: http://ts.la/kyle623 . Doing so gives the buyer and me 1,000 miles of free Supercharging credit and allows us to cover Tesla even better in the future.
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
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