South Africa’s reliance on a spluttering Eskom could come to an end once Tesla starts to produce batteries that can power homes and businesses.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, has announced that the company is working on a new kind of battery that would be used to power homes.
Based on Tesla’s lithium-ion battery technology, the new battery is expected to help the company become a leader in the growing home energy-storage market.
South African born Musk said that the design of the battery is complete, and production would begin in about six months.
Musk had talked about his plans to make a product that would be fitted into consumers’ homes, instead of their cars.
He had expressed an interest in the home energy-storage market and predicted enormous demand for battery systems for backup power at both homes and businesses.
At this moment, many solar homes in South Africa have to remain on a the grid because there has not been a way to store extra power for lean hours.
If given a relatively cheap and reliable battery to hold the power needed, going off-grid in the country will become commonplace.
Bye bye Eskom.
