Less than a month after Tesla unveiled its Powerwall 2 home battery storage system at twice the capacity and around half the price (per kWh) of the first Powerwall, the new improved unit has opened for orders on the Australian market.
Tesla said on Wednesday that its 14kWh Powerwall 2 batteries were available for order online and in Tesla stores in Australia, as well as through the US company’s accredited local resellers, with installations here set to begin in February 2017.
According to the Tesla website, the lithium-ion batteries will cost $A8,000 per unit, with installation and “supporting hardware” starting at $1,450. According to an online quote from one accredited Australian Tesla reseller, a 3kW solar system with a Powerwall 2 would start at $17,900.
Interestingly, the original 7kWh Tesla Powerwall is still being advertised on this same website, but questions about the cost of the first generation battery – given the price of the Powerwall 2 – were not immediately answered.
As we reported at the time, and noted above, Tesla’s Powerwall 2 made quite a splash when it was launched in October in LA, alongside the company’s solar roof, next generation EV charger and commercial battery storage unit, the Powerpack 2.
As CME analyst Bruce Mountain wrote at the time, not only did Tesla effectively halve its battery price per kWh in less than a year, but it signalled that PV+battery+grid was “level-pegging with the average grid-only market offer …and cheaper than the average grid-only Market Offer (before conditional discounts).”
And Tesla’s Elon Musk is confident it will do even better than its predecessor. In a Q&A following the launch, Musk said his company “expects to sell more Powerwalls than cars,” owing to potential demand for the product in parts of the world where power isn’t reliable or even accessible – or is very expensive, as in Australia.
Tesla’s focus in Australia, however, appears to be on the hundreds of thousands of households in NSW, South Australia and Victoria that have long since had rooftop solar, but who are about to lose their premium feed-in tariff.
“With over 275,000 Australian households affected by the reduction of feed-in tariffs …the timing for Powerwall 2 to launch into the Australian market is ideal,” the Tesla release said on Wednesday.
“Most homes use only a fraction of the solar energy they generate, with owners currently using the benefits of the feed-in tariffs to gain the value from their asset. Powerwall 2 allows home owners to use more of their solar, storing the energy to use at any time rather than sending the excess energy back into the grid for the low return that is about to begin.”
Below are the specs as set out by Tesla reseller Natural Solar.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
This post was published on November 23, 2016 11:03 am
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So how the hell does it go from $9450 ordered via the Tesla website to $17900 from an Australian retailer??
Nearly DOUBLE!
Our typical retailer rorting rip-offs at it as usual.....
I think the $17,900 refers to a complete system i.e. with panels.
You're right. But still, over $8000 for just 3kW of PV?
more like $14,900 for the battery alone.. LOL
Tesla has since revised the pricing of the Powerwall 2. Now $8000 for the unit and $2150 for install = $10150 inc gst.
So $14900 - $10150 is $4750. That is one hell of a mark-up by the retailer!!
Seriously, if you are going to get one - buy it via the website and steer well clear of the retailers. They don't deserve your business if they're going to gouge that much.
So $17,900 - 3kW of Solar @ $1.00 a watt including racking would be ($17,900 - $3,000) = $14,900 for the Tesla 2. Now they are still using the cheapest NMC lithium cells which renders them useless after 10 years. $14,900 / 13.5kWh = $1,103 per 1kWh of storage.
If we take a look at the DCS PV series batteries which Finn Peakcock states are "almost 30% cheaper than its next closest competitor". $10,990 / 10.0kWh = $1,099 per 1kWh of storage. These are not only still cheaper on price but also have 2.5 times the lifespan of the Tesla battery as they are using superior LFP lithium cells.
Considering the P2 comes with its own inverter and the many claims of quick and easy installation how is it over 2 grand to install this?
Im tempted just to buy one and void the warranty by installing it myself then go buy some decent affordable panels for half the money quoted here!
Does anyone know if the Tesla inverter controls the charging of the battery as well as the converting the power for mains use?