True, Tesla Motors is most well-known for its award-winning electric vehicle, the Tesla Model S, but CEO Elon Musk’s vision goes so much further.
The basis for this vision is the lithium-ion battery, which Elon Musk is using to corner the market, but which market? Elon Musk is the mastermind and founder of bother Tesla Motors and SolarCity, one of which generates clean energy, the other which can use clean energy. While the electric vehicle cannot exist without a lithium-ion battery pack, solar power shouldn’t be made without one, which is why the Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors, SolarCity, Tesla Gigafactory is such a perfect combination.
Clearly, the Tesla Gigafactory will be much more than just a lithium-ion battery production facility, but the key to the clean energy future that Elon Musk dreams about. Of course, a few profits along the way wouldn’t hurt, in spite of the fact that Musk draws a $1 per year salary. The whole thing boils down to energy storage, and Tesla is framing itself as an energy storage innovation company, not simply for long-range electric vehicles, but also micro-grid, smart-building, and renewable energy backup solutions.
So far, Tesla’s energy storage solutions range from the 60 kWh skateboard battery pack in the Tesla Model S to a 400 kWh outdoor commercial battery pack. There’s even a 10 kWh outdoor residential battery pack. The outdoor battery packs are already in use, such as at the Fremont, California, assembly plant, where a 2 MWh array can backup about 10% of the factory’s energy needs. Tesla plans on doubling it within a couple of months.
Elon Musk will go much further than just Tesla electric cars and SolarCity renewable energy systems, and it seems that he’s the only one putting this all together. Anyone else going to catch on before Musk revolutionizes the market before its even born?
Image © Tesla
