You need $20,000, plenty of time – and an iron nerve. But is ripping up a Tesla car and adapting its battery the future of cheap, sustainable home power?
In a small garage in suburban New Jersey, a man has hacked an electric car battery. And used it not, as you might imagine, to solve the energy crisis or time-travel a DeLorean back to 1955 … but to power his own home. Employing nothing more than a battery the size of a single mattress, some unfathomable technological wizardry, a year of his time and $20,000, Jason Hughes has managed to store energy from his solar-power system, meaning he can blow-dry his hair, charge his mobile phone, and stick the kettle on after Better Call Saul, all thanks to an out of whack Tesla Model S.
It may sound like a more extreme way to go off-grid than putting your name down for an allotment but batteries are having their moment in the sun. (Not the actual sun; that would make them explode.) Tech giants, startups and hackers are all doing their bit to jumpstart the humble battery’s fortunes and transform the way we use and store energy at a global level.