
Tesla Powerpack to Enable Large Scale Sustainable Energy to South Australia - darwhy
https://www.tesla.com/blog/tesla-powerpack-enable-large-scale-sustainable-energy-south-australia
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merricksb
Date: July 6, 2017

This is the announcement from last week that was heavily discussed at the
time:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14715679](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14715679)
(153 points/76 comments)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14723853](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14723853)
(206 points/166 comments)

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sschueller
"completion by December 2017". Is Tesla able to produce this many batteries in
such a short time when they are also currently trying to ramp up production of
their cars?

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pwagland
The short answer to this is that if they don't, they have to give it away for
free[1]. Plus this has received so much press that this will be made to work…

[1] : [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-07/elon-musk-is-
the-100-d...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-07/elon-musk-is-the-100-days-
or-its-free-idea-legit/8687996)

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mnw21cam
Remind me why they're using Li-ion batteries, which have a primary advantage
of being light, when they could use cheaper, heavier, and less flammable
alternatives?

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awjr
As with anything I suspect that this is to do with economies of scale.
Delivering a 100MW battery installation in under 6 months is challenging.
Being able to achieve this using their current manufacturing base is
impressive.

That's not to say Li-ion batteries are ideal, but right now, at this moment in
time, this is probably the only way of achieving a solution in under 6 months.

I believe the newer Glass batteries [1] will be the long term solution for
this type of installation, but they are some years off, and South Australia
has a problem that needs solving this year.

[1]
[http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/does-n...](http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/does-
new-glass-battery-accelerate-the-end-of-oil)

~~~
mtgx
And with Li-Ion battery capacity predicted to increase about 10x by 2025, as
everyone and their dog starts building a battery factory to serve the EV
market, prices for Li-Ion batteries should drop several fold by then. So it
makes sense to start adopting Li-Ion batteries into your utility
infrastructure.

