It may not have a clever name, but Mercedes-Benz’s home energy storage solution looks primed to bring some competition to Tesla’s Powerwall in certain markets.
After being announced in 2015, the Mercedes-Benz energy storage unit is ready for deliveries in the UK, and it should be on sale in the US some time this year, as well. Like Tesla’s Powerwall, Mercedes-Benz’s batteries can be used to provide power to supplement traditional grid use.
The Mercedes-Benz battery features a capacity of 2.5 kWh, which may not seem like much, but up to eight can be combined for a total storage capacity of 20 kWh. And that’s just for personal use — businesses and larger outfits can opt for even more capacity if need be. To compare, a single Tesla Powerwall battery holds about 14 kWh of charge.
Like Powerwall, Mercedes-Benz says its battery is best used in conjunction with solar panels and an in-home energy management system. Of course, you’ll have to shell out even more money to build a full system, but no matter how you cut it, these batteries ain’t cheap.
Pricing for MB’s batteries is left to the distributor, but Business Insider estimates that purchasing and installing one Mercedes-Benz battery (along with its supporting hardware) will cost between $9,000 and $10,000. While a single Powerwall battery costs $5,500 for 14 kWh, an installed Powerwall setup should be about the same or a bit less compared to its Mercedes equivalent.
Both are relatively elegant solutions, though. The Powerwall is a flat-ish slab that looks best hung on a wall, whereas the Mercedes-Benz battery more closely resembles an air conditioning unit. Batteries aren’t always pretty, but it’s a Mercedes-Benz, after all.
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