Tesla Powerwall

Tesla Powerwall is a popular battery storage product available in the UK in 2022

Tesla, Inc.

The company Tesla has become a house-hold name together with the likes of Google, Amazon, Uber, Facebook, Apple, etc.

Its CEO, Elon Musk, is a pioneer of several industries, including electric vehicles, battery storage, space exploration, and – bizarrely – drilling tunnels.

Tesla built the first, famous Gigafactory in Nevada, USA. It’s an absolutely massive factory that churns out batteries as fast as they can make them for both the Powerwall and Tesla electric cars. At the moment, demand is far outstripping supply.

Tesla Powerwall Versions

Tesla has designed three versions of the Powerwall so far.

The first has been discontinued and it’s the second one that is currently on sale in the UK.

However, version 3 was launched in the USA in April 2021. For the first time it comes with an integrated solar inverter. This means you don’t need an additional inverter if you get a solar panel system installed.

Version	Date introduced	Storage capacity
Powerwall 1	April 2015	6.4 kWh
Powerwall 2	October 2016	13.5 kWh
Powerwall 3	April 2021	13.5 kWh

The Tesla Powerwall 3 UK release date has not been set yet. We are hoping Tesla will bring it over to these shores in the first half of 2022.

The Tesla Powerwall 3 price in the UK is likely to be higher than the cost of the current Powerwall 2, due to the extra cost of the solar inverter.

This third generation Tesla battery is also known as Powerwall+.

Powerwall Battery Cells

The latest Tesla Powerwall product for 2022 uses the same battery cells as the Tesla cars.

This is good news. Think about it. A Tesla electric vehicle can function in very cold weather (e.g. Finland), as well as in a very hot environment (e.g. Dubai).

Each battery cell has its own temperature management system that keeps the battery at an optimum working temperature.

The Tesla Powerwall 2 can therefore be mounted either internally in your home or on an external wall exposed to the elements. It’s water and dust resistant to IP67 standard, and works down to minus 20ºC.

Not all battery products currently available in the UK can function properly below freezing. So, if you have limited suitable wall space inside your home for battery storage, the Powerwall is a great choice for external mounting.

Tesla Powerwall Storage Capacity

The Powerwall 2 also packs a considerable punch for its size.

It is 1,150 mm tall, 753 mm wide, and 147 mm deep. Weight is 114 kg.

But inside that relatively small form factor comes a lot of storage capacity. It holds 13.5 kWh of electricity, when fully charged.

You can stack up to 10 Powerwalls, one in front of the other, for a mind-blowing total possible storage capacity of 135 kWh.

The Tesla Powerwall cost in the UK, supplied and installed, can be found in the section below.

It’s good value in terms of price per kWh of storage, even though the overall price including installation can seem daunting.

Power in a Power-cut

In March 2019, Tesla released the ‘Backup Gateway 2’ which allows you to use the electricity stored in your Powerwall in the event of a power-cut.

Of course you might argue, “I never get power-cuts!” For many people that will be true. However, there are also many locations in the UK where power-cuts are surprisingly common. If that’s true for you, read on…

With a Backup Gateway, you gain two major advantages if there is a power-cut:

1. You can power devices in your home, using electricity stored in your Powerwall, and
2. If you have solar panels, they will continue to work, providing electricity both to your home and your Powerwall.

Point 2 is really important. Solar inverters have to – by law – turn off if there is a power-cut, otherwise the electricity from your panels might electrocute an engineer working to repair the line.

However, the Backup Gateway gets round this problem. It completely isolates your house from the grid. In this way, the Backup Gateway makes your solar inverter think it is still connected to the grid, and so it carries on working.

In addition, Backup Gateway 2 for Tesla Powerwall provides you with energy management and monitoring for solar electricity self-consumption, plus time-based control. All this is managed via the Tesla app.

The Backup function kicks in very quickly in a power outage. In fact, you may not even notice there is a power-cut at all. The first clue you’ll get that there is no electricity in the area is when your neighbours come round asking why your lights are still on!

The Gateway can provide up to 5 kW of continuous power, with a peak rating of 7 kW.

Certified Installers

To get a top-notch installation, make sure your installer is officially designated by Tesla as a ‘certified installer’.

Certified installers have had to jump through hoops to obtain certified installer status. They have been vetted by Tesla and take part in various, on-going training and support activities.

Installation standards for Tesla Powerwall certified installers are monitored very carefully. Tesla send round inspectors from time to time to ensure installations are perfect.

Tesla has set the bar very high when it comes to keeping its customers happy.

How is the Powerwall wired up in your home?

At least two people will turn up on installation day, as the Powerwall is very heavy.

Here is a typical installation process for the Powerwall:

1. The Powerwall box is taken out of the delivery van and moved gently to the base of the wall where it will be installed.
2. One of the electricians then screws a mounting bracket from the box into the wall.
3. Next, the Powerwall is carefully placed upright onto a hoist.
4. The Powerwall is lifted up and then eased back down onto the mounting bracket.
5. At this point the Powerwall is hanging nicely on your wall.
6. Then your Backup Gateway – the brains of the system – is mounted on the wall. This might be near the Powerwall or near your electricity import meter.
7. The Gateway is connected to your main fuse board.
8. Next, the Powerwall is connected to the Gateway.
9. It’s also possible for your solar panel system to be wired into the Gateway.
10. Then CT clamps are placed in appropriate places so that the Gateway can monitor all essential energy flows in the home.
11. There will also be isolators put in at various points for safety.
12. The Gatweway can communicate with your home router via Wi-Fi, though a wired ethernet connection is also recommended.
13. The electrician then commissions the system and you’re ready to go.

Tesla Powerwall Price

Although the headline Tesla Powerwall price can seem high, it’s actually not bad value for money in terms of cost per kWh of storage.

The typical cost of the Powerwall in the UK, supplied and installed, is about £8,500 + VAT. That is for both the Powerwall battery itself, plus the new Backup Gateway mentioned above.

Battery installations in the UK generally attract VAT at 20%. So the total cost to the residential purchaser would be £10,200 inc. VAT @ 20%.

Please note: after the new VAT laws introduced on 1 April 2022, if a home battery is installed at the same time as a solar PV system, you can secure VAT @ 0% on the Powerwall (as well as on the solar installation). That would bring the price back down to £8,500 inc. VAT @ 0%. You’d need to get both the solar and battery installed by the same local installation company to benefit from 0% VAT on the whole lot.

Tesla Powerwall – who is it for?

The Tesla Powerwall 2 is a premium product. There are cheaper home battery products out there, with lower storage capacity, but few as good value as the Powerwall.

Typical buyers include:

• Tesla car owners with solar panels (if you own a Model 3, Model S, Model X or Model Y – what are you waiting for?)
• Other brand EV car owners with solar panels
• People who want to make use of smart tariffs
• Customers who want an aesthetically pleasing, all in one product
• Home owners who would like to mount the battery outside
• Customers who suffer from power-cuts
• People without solar panels who want to charge the Powerwall with cheap, off-peak electricity at night and let it out during the day when prices are high
• Tech geeks who want to monitor all the energy flows via the Tesla app

Product Specifications

Here are all the data you need to evaluate the Tesla Powerwall.

We display the information in the same format for all the battery storage products we list, so you can compare and contrast.

The prices below include the Backup Gateway 2, allowing you to access electricity stored in your Powerwall in a power-cut.