MORE POWER TO MUSK’S ELBOW...

This week, Elon Musk’s Tesla reported financial results that seem to have widened the gulf of opinion on him and his electric car firm. While Wall Street seem dubious about the eccentric billionaire, the adoration of the tech community grows. One element of the results that escaped much scrutiny, was the growth of the energy business within Tesla. Their skill in designing the hugely complex batteries that power their cars have helped create a fascinating product, Powerwall. Powerwall is a panel that fixes to the wall, inside or out, of homes. It integrates with solar panels to store excess energy generated during the day. It’s completely automated and once installed requires no maintenance. It’s child and pet friendly, as there are no exposed wires or hot vents. Powerwall detects mains electricity outages and automatically switches over to power your home. The panels, pictured below, cost the equivalent of €9,000 to power a 1,500 sq ft house.