Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY), are two companies who are consistently on the cutting edge of their industries and are frequently making the headlines for their various achievements and industry breakthroughs. Recently these two companies are appearing in the same headline as they have teamed up to produce a product that benefits both companies and draws from both of their respective expertises. Solar City, a seller and installer of solar panels for residential and commercial customers, has begun offering a Tesla Motors built, industrial grade power storage unit.
These power storage systems are about the size of refrigerator and consist of similar battery packs used in Tesla’s Model S and Roadster. These systems are being sold by SolarCity in combination with their solar panel installations and leasing to help augment the limited ability of solar panel energy production when the sun sets for the day, as well as for use during outages from the traditional electrical grid. Energy back-up systems are valuable tools and are already used by many homeowners, businesses and institutions. Hospitals always require consistent energy supplies to support their operations and data based companies equally rely on steady flowing energy to power their servers; therefore the merits of Tesla Motor’s new system are self-evident.
As homeowners, companies and institutions begin to develop their own micro-grids and establish their own self-sustaining power infrastructure and power supply, industrial grade energy storage will become an integral part of these systems. To learn more about micro-grids, check out my other article here: Good Business: Micro Grids
Tesla Motors as many already know is the leader in electric car manufacturing; therefore, it may seem surprising that it is building battery storage units for a different company in a different industry, however there are two important reasons for this. First, the two companies share management leadership. Tesla Motors is led by Elon Musk as its CEO and Product Architect and Musk also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at SolarCity. To add to that, Musk’s two cousins, Lydon Rive and Pete Rive serve as the CEO and the CTO, respectively, of SolarCity.
The Second reason is that Tesla has become well versed in optimizing battery pack configuration as well as designing efficient and effective systems to manage the charging and discharging of large-scale battery packs from their work with their all-electric Roadster sports car and Model S luxury sedan.
From their shared visionary leadership to their persistent mission to create and promote sustainable and energy conscious products and services, Tesla Motors and SolarCity are two companies that make the perfect team.
To learn more about Tesla Motors and their work in the electric car industry, read my “Good Business” article here: Good Business: Tesla Motors. To learn more about SolarCity and their work in the Solar industry, read my “Good Business” article here: Good Business: SolarCity.
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