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Musk: "Version two of the Powerwall probably around July, August this year"

Utahken

Member
Mar 18, 2016
338
350
Michigan
Very good to see some installs. All I have seen so far is the white powerwall. I think I will choose that color too... whenever I get chosen to be called by Tesla.
 

PaulRocket

Member
Jan 2, 2016
299
2,475
Germany
Here's another of the first batch of 90 Powerwalls to reach the UK, in my garage.
View attachment 175846

and the SolarEdge web portal on day 1:
View attachment 175847
It is now set up to avoid discharging during my off-peak (=car charging) hours so it replaces more expensive day-rate power.
Will it ever pay for itself? I honestly don't care - it makes a difference to me, and that's what matters!

Congratulations! Hoping for a lot more posts like these... May I ask how much you paid?
 

bryand

Member
Congratulations! Hoping for a lot more posts like these... May I ask how much you paid?
The Powerwall itself was £4500, but it was fitted to a new SolarEdge-controlled PV system so there were some SolarEdge components installed which I wouldn't have needed if I had not had the Powerwall. In other words, I could have got the same PV performance for less, using non-SolarEdge components.
 

int32_t

Tesla Spotter
Nov 21, 2015
623
398
Calgary area, AB, Canada
Here's another of the first batch of 90 Powerwalls to reach the UK, in my garage.
View attachment 175846

and the SolarEdge web portal on day 1:
View attachment 175847
It is now set up to avoid discharging during my off-peak (=car charging) hours so it replaces more expensive day-rate power.
Will it ever pay for itself? I honestly don't care - it makes a difference to me, and that's what matters!
Looks amazing!
 

mwulff

Member
Jan 15, 2015
348
25
Danmark
It would be great if you could post some statistics of your power-usage/how efficient the powerwall is. As someone who pays a brick-ton for power from the grid and get paid almost nothing to sell it this looks very interesting.

I would love more info about how much you "sell back" vs store and use.
 

Ulmo

Active Member
Jan 19, 2016
4,324
4,428
Vienna Woods, Aptos, California
I have heard from at least two of the four solar panel installers I'm working with that they will be offering PowerWalls in December of this year (2016). I think I will be attempting to make space in the installation for them when they become available.
 

Utahken

Member
Mar 18, 2016
338
350
Michigan
So with the reports of Elon coming out with powerwall 2 in October, do you think that it is just version 1.0 with an integrated inverter?
 

Cosmacelf

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2013
8,265
19,531
San Diego
It'll be more - one of his tweets said something about a new charger as well. Assuming he didn't mistype, that opens up the possibility of a Tesla DC car charger. ie. it hooks into the 400V DC bus between the solar panels and the battery and inverter, and draws DC before it hits the inverter, and charges the car via DC (just like a Supercharger would). In theory, if you had a big solar array, you could charge your car faster than an 80 amp, or 20 kW HPWC.
 

miimura

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2013
5,989
5,567
Los Altos, CA
The required DC/DC converter between the stationary battery and car battery still has to have a certain power rating. I am not expecting them to exceed 20kW. Also, the rate when solar is not contributing would most likely be lower in order to avoid unreasonable C-rate discharge on the stationary battery.
 

bonaire

Active Member
Aug 24, 2013
2,482
897
USA
It'll be more - one of his tweets said something about a new charger as well. Assuming he didn't mistype, that opens up the possibility of a Tesla DC car charger. ie. it hooks into the 400V DC bus between the solar panels and the battery and inverter, and draws DC before it hits the inverter, and charges the car via DC (just like a Supercharger would). In theory, if you had a big solar array, you could charge your car faster than an 80 amp, or 20 kW HPWC.

True if the inverter itself allowed higher than 20kW, which is doubtful. And it should be mid day and your 20kW or larger solar array is working near 100%. Better off with grid supported dual chargers and HPWC. Sure, a nice 8kW DC charger, not supercharger, could be done with non inverted DC power. But hard to find a consumer class DC inverter that would support higher power than the dual charger HPWC that currently costs less than $6500. How fast does a Tesl owner need to charge at home?
 

Cosmacelf

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2013
8,265
19,531
San Diego
Bonaire, I agree, not something too practical for most homeowners.

BUT, if you DID have a big solar array, it sure would be cool to have a home Supercharger. For practicality, I could see fleets and other commercial operators using this more than homes.

BTW, you DO NOT need a powerful inverter for this since you are taking solar panel DC and giving it to the car as DC. No inverter needed. Now you do have to match voltage, but the PowerWalls already do this for their internal batteries, so the extra parts count to allow the PowerWalls to modulate voltage for the Tesla car battery is minimal.
 
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ecarfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 21, 2013
19,186
13,841
San Mateo, CA
I would love someday to have home DC charging direct from my panels to my car. I would be willing to add more panels to my 9.8kWh system to do that.
 

miimura

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2013
5,989
5,567
Los Altos, CA
BTW, you DO NOT need a powerful inverter for this since you are taking solar panel DC and giving it to the car as DC. No inverter needed. Now you do have to match voltage, but the PowerWalls already do this for their internal batteries, so the extra parts count to allow the PowerWalls to modulate voltage for the Tesla car battery is minimal.
DC charging would be a relatively small percentage of overall solar operation, so the inverter(s) would need to be sized for the total solar installation even if they aren't involved in the DC EV charging system.
 

Cosmacelf

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2013
8,265
19,531
San Diego
Ok, I think I know what you guys are saying now. If you had a 50 kW solar array, it would be split into five (or more) 10kW DC strings for connections into five inverters. Given Elon's stated aim of integrating everything, Powerwall V2 would likely have an integrated inverter.

However this still doesn't preclude a separate charger, or EVSE, that would connect to a special DC output of each Powerwall, aggregating up to 50 kW (or more) of solar power directly into the car.
 

COrental

Member
Jun 24, 2014
30
5
Denver, CO
How about a power wall with a built in inverter and transfer switch, to take advantage of time of use metering. Plug and play into my NEMA 14-50 outlet used to charge the model S. I guess to be used as backup power for the whole house it would need the transfer switching inatallled on the other
Side of the breaker box, but still a pretty simple wiring job for an electrician. I had my NEMA. 14-50 installed in my garage including an RV style outlet box for $210 total.
 

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