Wal-Mart A Guinea Pig For Tesla Batteries

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Much has been written about the Musk dynasty of Tesla, Solar City, and SpaceX. In a few weeks they are going to unveil their results for home use, and that was posted by Zulu in his thread. This one tells how a major retailer has already been testing them. One thing they all have in common is the need for cheap electricity and batteries to hold those charges at the least price and weight. I was surprised to see that they have already been testing the battery designs already on Walmart stores due to their already adopting Solar City systems for many of their stores too. I've been saying this path was obvious for years and was met with the usual (Cue the voice of Tatoo from the series Fantasy Island ) "De Cost! De Cost!

 

While it is true every technology costs until it becomes ubiquitous, this tech is already a necessity. And the gigafactory along with other money makers like the Google 1 billion investment for satellite LEO armada for Cell and Internet, and the technology inroads to more dense battery technologies and materials from nano matrices of grapheme and other new materials and material combinations: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150317103908.htm The Graphene reports are as good or better. It is a rush to get the research into practice because the Gigafactory can also be retooled or a second and third built as planned for different types being invented as I type this. On to today's article. And remember I am outlining a future industry like I did with my posts 12 years ago about Tesla. Most of the world would be shocked to see what is being done but many can't understand it, let alone be investors in anything. The future is going to be the same as the past in one respect. Regardless of the means to generate it, electricity will continue to power our world. But the means to generate it without fossil fuels while over the tipping point, is beyond the comprehension of many folks. There has been a paradigm shift, a major disruption, and many here now are aware of it. How much longer does anyone think that car dealers are going to keep convincing people that letting a company like Tesla or Elio sell direct to the public way cheaper than auto stealerships will, are a threat to home mother and apple pie. As if.

 

I still get posts here that mix up business and investing with some narrative that makes clean energy the realm of geeks and the gullible, and labels them as tree huggers. They said the same about Tesla in 2003, 2008 after their cars were already on the road, some people called it a fraud and a pump and dump. And the mental midgets screaming "De costs! De costs!" aren't even aware of what everyone reading them is. Not one of them, in print, or in media, scream "De cost! De Cost! no one will buy them, they are just a fad for the rich, about a Porsche 911, or the BMW 7 class cars, or top line Mercedes cars. No mention that they won't sell because they are too expensive.

 

Well get ready folks cause here we go again. Solar is getting a backup. Yep batteries. But not just for homes. Big enterprises run numbers. They don't invest in tech with no return to claim goodness and light comes out their behinds because they are greener than thou. They run the numbers. And it is the large orders that begin to really make a dent in the economies of scale of new tech just like MP3 players costing nothing today, they are such a commodity that they are built into all phones but one. And music memory is under 25 bucks per 64GB of music storage. And you don't need to carry multiple devices and chargers.

 

These will, IMHO grow faster than one can shake a stick at. And I do envision lots of resistance from older folks, not today's generations who when Jason Hiner's two year old toddler pick up dad's or mom's cell phone, swipe to unlock, click on pictures, and then start swiping to look at them - in 2005! ( off topic source here: http://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/photos-techrepublic-staff-shows-off-their-oldest-tech/4/ ).

 

Back to the topic.

 

Excerpt:

 

"Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to unveil a new line of batteries designed to be used in businesses and private homes, but it appears that Wal-Mart Corp (NYSE: WMT) had a sneak preview of the company's highly anticipated offering.

Bloomberg reported that the batteries have already been powering about a dozen Wal-Mart stores across the US as part of a testing program.

 

The batteries are expected to meet a variety of needs from powering huge commercial operations like factories to smaller scale projects like reducing energy needs at schools and wineries.

 

The project is also expected draw in around $65 million worth of SGIP rebates for Tesla.

 

Why Wal-Mart?

 

While the batteries aren't set to debut until April 30, Tesla has been testing their use in several different locations in an effort to get a better gauge of their functionality.

 

Tesla has partnered with SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ: SCTY) to equip around 300 homes in California with solar panels, the energy from which will be stored in Tesla batteries.

 

Wal-Mart emerged as another tester because of its existing relationship with SolarCity; the company has already installed the batteries in 11 of its California stores."

 

The rest of the article with links to related stories and pics is here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wal-mart-guinea-pig-tesla-161917513.html