
Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage - prostoalex
https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/mercedes-benz-energy/mercedes-benz-your-own-energy-revolution/
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samcheng
This is a 115-year-old company, with one of the most valuable brands in the
world, a long history of technological innovation, and legendary German
engineering, chasing a 15-year-old upstart with less than a tenth of the sales
volume.

Even if you think Tesla is over-hyped and over-valued, you've got to hand it
to them for really shaping the narrative of automotive innovation.

As for this particular device, it appears to top out at 20kWh. That's pretty
small; a gasoline-replacement electric car has a much larger battery. (Tesla
sells them up to 100kWh) Then again, 20kWh is enough to cover most days'
driving...

~~~
holydude
Legendary German engineering is a myth especially in this day and age . Sure
they have an edge on few things as they were the first / had the most
experience and the budget to improve on but just look at how they are loosing
against the fierce competition from the US and Asia. I am not saying they are
bad I am saying they are not that good as people think. They milk the brand
but fail to deliver exceptional products.

~~~
yorwba
When you buy from a brand with a reputation to lose, you are not buying a
guarantee to an exceptional product, you are buying a guarantee to a product
that is not exceptionally bad.

When you buy an appliance from an unknown Chinese manufacturer, you _can_ get
a solid product, but if you're not careful, you end up with a cheap knock-off
that will break in a month. They can get away with it because nobody ever
hears of them, nobody knows not to buy from them.

When you buy an appliance from a well-known German manufacturer, you _can_ get
a white-labeled product from a Chinese supplier, but most likely it will still
be a piece of solid engineering. Otherwise, any incident will be in the news
for weeks, and exactly those customers who bought the brand for name-
recognition now avoid it for the same reasons.

I suspect that this will change as wages in China rise to a level where build
quality no longer dominates the manufacturing cost and some Chinese brands
will probably emerge to be seen as high-value internationally.

~~~
holydude
Yeah sure i can agree with that. What I was saying is that there is not any
reason for me to buy a product from a german brand unless they are really less
expensive, giving me a better deal (more features / warranty).

The only problem with Chinese products is the availability and their IP
stealing not really the quality.

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ckastner
The brochure mentions that the batteries are built by ACCUMOTIVE GmbH, a
subsidiary company of Mercedes Benz.

Apparently, it was founded in 2009, and they only recently began construction
of their second plant dedicated to battery production [1].

From their presentation their website, it also looks as if they are vertically
fully integrated -- from R&D, to production. That would one-up Tesla (Tesla
owns the Gigafactory, but it is operated by Panasonic, using Panasonic
technology).

[1] [https://www.accumotive.de/de/aktuelles/daimler-legt-
grundste...](https://www.accumotive.de/de/aktuelles/daimler-legt-grundstein-
fuer-eine-der-groessten-und-modernsten-batteriefabriken-der-welt/)

~~~
konschubert
The cynic in my thinks that they are releasing a battery pack because they are
not producing as many electric cars as they thought they would and are trying
to get rid of a surplus in capacity.

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boyter
I just want any battery system to be installed for 7kWh for under $5000 in
Australia.

I had hoped when the Powerwall 2 came out that you would be able to pick up
the first version for that but alas.

I really do think that the above 7kWh for $5k installed is the sweet spot. At
that point its a no brainer purchase for anyone with over 3kw of solar panels.

For me, with the stupidly high electricity prices in Australia (some of the
highest in the world) at that point it would save me money in 3-5 years, and I
am not the only one thinking like this. Among my friends and colleagues every
single one has said at that price point they will pull the trigger and buy
one. Even better if they are modular and can be upgraded again at a later date
with additional storage.

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King-Aaron
Clever of Mercedes to get on board with battery technology.

I don't know if I'd have it mounted on my living room wall like they have in
the pictures though.

~~~
dovdovdov
Don't be silly, that's just the garage entrée.

From 2018 all US Smarts are electric only.

Very excited about the coming years.

~~~
King-Aaron
Smart Cars are disgusting to drive though, I wouldn't be too excited :P

(*I will edit that though, and say that I am pretty eager to see how the
technology is going to evolve as more governments mandate a faster roll-out of
consumer electric vehicles. Exciting times indeed.)

~~~
danmaz74
"Smart" cars are made for congested, with very little space to park European
cities...

~~~
llukas
Did you try to park in San Francisco? Besides you can park smart perpendicular
to the curb and it still fits!

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mipapage
So doesn't MB own part of Tesla? (Edit: yes) I wonder what the overlap is
here.

And I wonder if the Spanish Gov would ever let this in...

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.#History)
"On May 19, 2009, Germany's Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz, acquired an
equity stake of less than 10% of Tesla for a reported US$50 million,"

~~~
btian
They sold the stake.

Toyota sold too.

~~~
mipapage
Thanks, I didn't know that!

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kumarvvr
The max power supply capability is 4.6 kW. To consume 18 kWh of energy, it
will take about 4 hours.

So I guess the use is more or less for car battery charging, and backup power
for homes.

However, I wish there was a pure DC lighting and Fan systems in homes, so that
inverter costs can be reduced.

~~~
Xylakant
OTOH it's pretty rare that I have a load of 4.6kW in my flat at any given
time. Event 1kW seems a lot as a constant load - that would require me to run
the hoover, washing maschine or the stove at full power and I rarely do that
for hours on end. I haven't run the numbers, but I would guesstimate that
18kWh of electric energy get me a days worth or even longer.

~~~
kumarvvr
Usually it should. In India, it will definitely last a day, if not more.

In western countrues, heating or cooling loads should itself be a substantial
amount.

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staticelf
Even if this was less expensive, could store more energy I would still
purchase the home battery from Tesla if I had to make the descision.

It's so obvious that this would probably never happen without Elon and Tesla
leading the way. So sad to see so many large companies with so much potential
just being copycats.

~~~
davej
It's not sad at all. It's exciting! The fact that the big companies are
copying Tesla will only speed up adoption. It's further validation that Tesla
is on the right path.

~~~
staticelf
Yes of course, but they are simply trying to take the market from Tesla with a
product that is essentially the same as theirs.

I understand that this is always going to happen but it's a bit disheartening
since Mercedes is such a big company that could do some very cool stuff
themselves. It seems that many big corporations just becomes copycats after a
while doing what everyone else is doing.

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senthilnayagam
automobile manufacturers are basically a herd, one of the leaders Mercedes
Benz now is following Tesla, expect others to follow soon.

atleast for next 2 decades there is no such thing as excess battery capacity.
this will help improve electric cars and solar adoption across the globe.

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Mithaldu
Is this thing only for cars, or can you use it as a general battery for other
things in the house?

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jackvalentine
It looks like a rubbish bin.

~~~
dangero
I agree and why does the stock image show it on the interior of the home next
to the dinner table? Wouldn't you install this in your garage or a closet
somewhere, not as a dining room accent?

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jakobegger
Maybe they want to emphasize the safety and the design of the battery? To me,
the ad says „this device is so safe and beautiful you don‘t want to hide it in
your garage“

But most of all, the photo tells us about the target audience: This is not a
product for tinkerers to replace the lead acid batteries of their home made
photovoltaic systems; this is a product for the upper middle class to showcase
how modern/sustainable/whatever their home is.

~~~
kumarvvr
Or the inherent thinking of marketing departments in companies like MB, where
every product is meant for upper-middle class and higher target audience.

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aedron
Elon-envy.

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eyupcanakman
the color of the site is weird. I tried to increase screen brightness :D

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gyvastis
Looks like a trash bin, haha.

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drcross
This is the ultimate in conspicuous consumption and virtue signalling. DIY
powerwall makers make similar units using free cells because the ROI takes so
long for anything other than free cells. You can be certain that the MB badge
is going to cost you a lot on top of whatever the internals of the system
cost.

