Telsa Moves into Storage Batteries to Power Homes

HAWTHORNE, Calif -- Seeking to redefine itself as more than a high-tech automaker, Tesla Motorsannounced Thursday night plans to make inroads into residential and business battery systems.

While home batteries aren't as sexy as electric luxury cars, Tesla CEO Elon Musk portrayed the Powerwall Home Battery and the business system, called the Powerpack, as helping to wean the world off oil and gas.

"This is within the power of humanity to do," Musk told the large crowd gathered at Tesla's design center in this Los Angeles suburb. "We have done things like this before. It is not impossible."

Musk says the system could be a boon to those living off the electric grid, similar to moves by other other tech companies to connect some of the most remote regions of the world to services that previously required wires. Facebook is testing a solar-powered drone to bring Internet to some of the most remote places on the globe. Google's Project Loon attempts to accomplish the same with balloons traveling on the edge of space.

Musk says the basic 10 kilowatt-hour Powerwall home system will sell for $3,500 and use much of the same technology found in Tesla electric cars, known for having the longest range per car of any pure electrics on the road. "In a lot of ways it's taking derivative technology from the car," he told reporters before the presentation.

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