Can You Go Off-Grid With a Tesla Powerwall?

// What I Recommend For Your Tesla

// Partners I Recommend

// Ways to Stay Connected

// Credits
Editing: Ben Pryce (Black Wave Digital)
Producer: Katie Felton
Writing: Ben Sullins

// Music by Epidemic Sound

// Disclaimer
I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services linked above. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you the data and analytics behind the world.

[daveborinski]

Ben, The reason your solar is getting shut down is because it’s producing more power than the powerwall can accept. Being disconnected from the grid, that power has no place to go so the solar has to be turned off. You could connect your car and adjust the charging amps used to charge it and allow that energy to be captured in the car & powerwall but it’s a delicate balancing act. Also, turn your water heater off at night and back on when the solar is up to conserve usage overnight.

If Tesla allowed a vehicle to powerwall connection, you would be able to use all of the solar power you can generate in a day. Vehicle to grid has many issues but vehicle to powerwall could be seamless.

[caprailroad]

those battery packs exceeded my expectations with only 16 panels. you did a really good experiment

[pedrovisgueira]

Imagine living completely autonomous in terms of energy consuming only solar, this gets me hyped for the future.

[borisbetus]

10:56 ben-"it's not looking good"
Also ben:*keeps lights on even though the sun is shining through the window

[fce]

Very glad to see this video. This test is actually a success and represents great news. The issue here was too high energy demand from your family. My monthly average usage for the year is 1002 kWh in a 3750 ft2 house, while you’re using that in a week. The solution is called conservation. In other words: think about the energy being used, and how to get more efficient with it

[dakota]

I love these off grid power wall videos. Thanks for doing one ben

[everintransit]

House cleaning involves vacuuming which is a huge inductive load. This is the problem with solar air conditioning. The rotating motor and/or heating element needs overwhelm the supply. Great post.

[AdamDadeby]

Seen from Europe, that 28kWh daily energy use (without EV charging) sounds huge. There must be scope for upping your energy efficiency. Insulation, external shading, better night time air change rates, higher efficiency appliances, LED lighting.

[kirknason]

I have a 8kw system with two PWs, This size will keep me running with three adults in a 2.6k sq/ft home. This includes running air conditioning at peak time of day.

[ob]

Your ad introduction was so great I had to last till the end :DDDD

[charlesnoack]

Thanks for this video. I just installed 2 Powerwalls and it took 2 days to charge them with two solar systems. Our original system installed in 2004. It is 18 panels(215 watts each) which is a 3.8kW system. Then in 2019, we added 8 panels(326W each) for a 2.6kW system. Total combined 6.4kW's. The solar company quoted a 12-panel system as the smallest they would install. Like you said, they are in the business of making money. Unfortunately, with the pool solar panels on the roof, only 8 panels could be installed. They agreed to install the 8 panels. It is March 11, 2021, in the San Francisco Bay area, so the system, with the weather right now is working ok. I was trying to find out how long this system would carry the house with an extended power outage. Your video and analysis is very helpful. Thanks so much for doing it.

[timberthewolf]

Interesting experiment, once you said you used the air conditioner, I was like oh there's no way it will last 7 days.

[ricardozen]

I knew it! Going off grid with power walls are the most convenient and efficient way to do it! Thanks Ben for putting your home to the test. Too bad that Nespresso couldn’t make it through the shot. Zen from Costa Rica.

[MH-Tesla]

Holy energy usage! I live in Michigan and don't shy away from using power or air conditioning. Run a dehumidifier 24/7 in the summer as well. Highest month was 566kWh. House is 60% the size of yours. But that's just amazingly high for just a week. You doubled my highest month usage in less than 7 days. I'm going to have to work harder to catch up.

[BnORailFan]

That coffee maker sure takes a lot of energy.

[mikecamann]

I watch a lot of your videos but this one was exceptionally informative. Great experiment, love the approach to it! So the question would be, given this setup, is it worth switching off grid every 4-5 days? Are there any meaningful financial gains to maintaining that type of schedule?

[jackmead]

Thank you for this video! We just Leased a new Tesla system and got a system that will cost us close to what our electric bill was running. Now after watching your video, we learned a lot about watch the system can do!!
Thank you!!! We are still making adjustments on our these are hard choices.
Thank you for your information.

[usfreedom]

I just finalize my contract with Tesla for the solar roof with18 kWh and 3 power walls. So based off this video I will have way more than enough to go off the grid. Thanks for the info

[dayneodendaal]

The 24 sound effects were nice touch 👌🏼

[ahaveland]

Ben, using 1MWh in a week is pretty extreme!
I run a few servers 24x7 and use about 1MWh per month, and even that is way above average use for where I am in Budapest.
If the grid died for real, you could easily tone down your usage to match and make it work indefinitely.