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Tesla plans to show off its home battery next week

Tesla plans to show off its home battery next week

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Along with a 'utility scale' battery

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What exactly is Tesla showing off at its event next week? The company's already let most of the cat out of the bag on that already, but decided to go full feline today, telling investors that it would be showing off a pair of new battery technologies. A note from the company's VP of investor relations, which was obtained by BuzzFeed, says Tesla "will introduce the Tesla home battery and a very large utility scale battery," adding that "we will explain the advantages of our solutions and why past battery options were not compelling."

Back that AC up

Tesla CEO Elon Musk already telegraphed plans to debut home batteries during a Tesla quarterly earnings call in February, saying the design was already finished and that production was going to begin "in about six months, or so," adding that it was "really great," and that he was "really excited about it." The technology promises to store things like solar energy or potentially a mix of that and cheap electricity during off-peak hours, helping keeping state power grids balanced and trim bills by 20 to 30 percent for some customers. Some commercial buildings have already begun getting these batteries as part of installations through SolarCity.

Last month, Musk teased a "major new Tesla product line," but noted that the event to unveil it would not be privy to any car news.

The press conference is being held next Thursday, April 30th at Tesla's Hawthorne Design Studio in Southern California, unlike the nearby airfield where the company first showed off its dual-motor Model S last October.

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