Charged up and (sorta) ready to go

Elon Musk - love him or hate him, the man does seem to be doing a lot. He’s managed to figure out two core skills of the modern business world:

1. Financial engineering

2. Social signalling

The Elon Musk company that’s used these better than most? Hint - it’s not Twitter.

In this case, we’re talking about Tesla. Earlier this week, they announced that they’re ready to sell their home battery product, the Powerwall, to anyone who wants it. Why is this news? Because until now, they weren’t able to keep up with demand.

Not a bad problem to have.

Why does this matter?

Firstly, it shows that the technology that Tesla puts into their cars can be used outside of them - just imagine a world in which all of your electronics come with party mode straight out of the box. What does party mode on a kettle look like? What about a toaster? These are the important questions.

Secondly, it says something about wider market trends. Part of the demand for the Powerwall come’s from a rising trend in remote living. If you want to live “off the grid”, you need somewhere to store your electricity.

Honestly? Sounds like a lot of effort to go dark - deleting instagram, twitter, and tiktok in this day and age probably gets you 99% of the benefits of going off the grid. I also hear Do Not Disturb on your iphone does the job pretty well, all without having to pay Mr Musk for his big battery.

There is something to be said about the other segment driving demand for these Powerwalls - those in regions with extreme weather events. Having access to a reliable energy source in that kind of scenario is invaluable - which is why they’re willing to shell out >$10,000 for each of these batteries.

This is a pretty cool product though, with the potential to help a ton of potentially vulnerable people. The only thing that remains to be known is if this battery line will also benefit from the unique naming conventions of Tesla’s cars.