Tesla will soon be releasing a new and improved version of its popular home energy storage system, Powerwall. The third version of Powerwall, referred to as Powerwall 3, will be cheaper for Tesla to produce while also offering benefits to owners.
While Tesla has not yet officially announced Powerwall 3, the new product first surfaced last year when details of an internal meeting leaked in which it was revealed a new home energy storage product was in the works. Not much was said about the new product except that it would allow for easier installations, have improved aesthetics, and higher performance than its predecessors.
Tesla was intending to pilot the new Powerwall 3 with employees in 2022, and now it looks like the company is preparing for a public launch of the new product. According to a report by Electrek, Tesla has begun applying to have Powerwall 3 approved and certified with some utility companies in the US. The report states that some utility companies have already certified Powerwall 3, meaning a launch of the new product could happen very soon.
Powerwall 3 Specs
While the applications didn’t reveal the unit’s specifications, Drive Tesla has been able to obtain some information on Powerwall 3. According to our source one of the biggest changes is on the inside as the company will switch from using lithium NMC (Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt) battery cells to Prismatic LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) cells. This will make Powerwall 3 cheaper to produce, and follows the same change Tesla made with their utility-scale Megapack system last year (and the Model 3 RWD before that).
We were also told to expect the same 13.5kWh energy capacity as the existing Powerwall 2, however the new unit will now come with 15.4kW of peak backup power, compared to the 10kW in the current version.
On the outside Powerwall 3 will look much like Powerwall 2, but it will have a significantly smaller form factor than its predecessor. Although we were not provided with the exact dimensions, we did see a photo of the new unit and while it is only about 5″ shorter than Powerwall 2, it appears to be about 25% narrower. The unit will be made of die-cast aluminum and feature no adhesive sealing, with Tesla instead using weld sealing for the Powerwall 3 enclosure.
We can’t share the photo we were provided but here is a general approximation of the size of Powerwall 3 compared to Powerwall 2.
Unfortunately we don’t have any information on how Powerwall 3 pricing will compare to Powerwall 2. Currently Powerwall 2 sells for $9,200 for a single unit, $17,200 for 2 units, and $25,200 for 3 units. Tesla recently started taking orders for Powerwall again without requiring it to be bundled with a solar purchase at the same time.
