The Tesla Powerwall

Photo: TeslaMotors.com

On Tesla’s website, this innovation is described in simple, laymen’s terms as:

…a home battery that charges using electricity generated from solar panels, or when utility rates are low, and powers your home in the evening. It also fortifies your home against power outages by providing a backup electricity supply. Automated, compact and simple to install, Powerwall offers independence from the utility grid and the security of an emergency backup.

Looking past the obvious benefits outlined here, take a moment to re-read that phrase with an attention to the messaging and syntax (if you’re alone, try reading it out loud).  Beautiful, right?

It reads like a speech or a well-done commercial, articulating the dense and complex with elegant simplicity and precision.  Even someone like me with no background or substantial previous interest in home energy efficiency can rally around that value proposition.

As many have pointed out, home batteries are by no means a novel concept.  So why is the Tesla Powerwall garnering so much attention?

As Forbes so eloquently put it, one should never underestimate “the marvel that is Musk’s ability to get attention. The man is a rock star of event unveiling.”  Truth.  As the real-life Tony Stark, Musk has the recipe down for a good media firestorm.

And unlike most CEOs, Musk doesn’t let the looming threat of scandal or media negativity keep him from speaking his mind in the spotlight.  Tesla is a case-study in the argument that no publicity is bad publicity.

It’s not just Musk’s media mastery that makes this unveiling so powerful; the product and public sentiment are also uniquely aligned at this time.  With net metering sentiment at an all-time low (read: people hate paying the electric companies to take the energy they are producing), and time-of-use billing on the rise, people are fed up with power companies.  Couple that with the hype of Musk, the design of Tesla, masterful messaging, and the weight of the Gigafactory, and it is no wonder the Powerwall is not just another brick in the wall.