Though Elon Musk has made aggressive moves over the past few years to revolutionize the way we consume energy, Mercedes-Benz is closing the gap in releasing new technologies.
A new in-home battery system has been introduced by the German marque, one which utilizes the same lithium-ion batteries found in the hybrid and electric vehicles they create. A May 28 press release details this release from Deutsche ACCUmotive, a 100 percent subsidiary of Daimler AG.
This introduction came just a little less than a month after Tesla’s Powerwall home energy storage device was unveiled April 30, making Daimler the second publicly announced competitor in this newly developing industry. However, there already appear to be a few significant differences between the two power packs; for starters, Daimler’s is already being used at an industrial level, while Tesla’s has yet to be shipped.
“Coulomb is deploying the energy storage plant from Kamenz, Saxony for the purposes of grid stabilization and to smooth load peaks,” the Daimler release tells us. “These are tasks usually performed by coal-fired and nuclear power stations.”
The two both offer the opportunity, in private use, to connect the storage pack to solar panels, though the feasibility of doing so has yet to be truly tested. A May 6 article from BloombergBusiness looked into this possibility with Tesla’s power pack, which comes in two sizes, one meant for daily use and one meant for backup power storage in case of an outage. The daily use battery is 7 kilowatt hours (kWh) and the backup is 10 kWh, and the 10 kWh battery can become part of a 10-pack, creating 100 kWh of storage total.
The packs from Mercedes-Benz can also be linked, but their storage sizes are significantly smaller than Tesla’s. A 2.5 kWh pack is recommended for private use, with a 5.9 kWh size available for industrial use. Only 8 packs can be linked, creating a total of 20 kWh of energy storage.
Tesla has already sold most of their initially planned battery packs, with deliveries planned to begin this summer. Daimler has opened up ordering for their packs as of June 1, and their deliveries are slated for this fall.
(See Also: Mercedes-Benz Apple Watch App Introduced)
Be sure to stay with us for more information on the implementation of these power packs as their popularity and utilization spreads, and find the perfect Mercedes-Benz vehicle to complement your in-home battery device from our exclusive listings below.
(Source: Daimler, Tesla, BloombergBusiness)
