The home of Richard Hawkes, nestled in a new era of Tesla technology begins in rural Kent, England.
The architect’s eco-friendly home, featured in a 2009 episode of the UK homebuilding show Great designs, is one of 65,000 buildings worldwide certified as a Passive House, which means that it uses minimal energy for heating and cooling.
In March 2020, he signed up for the Tesla Energy Plan. It is an energy tariff introduced by Tesla retail partner Octopus Energy in November 2019 and launched to the general public in October 2020.
It might be a useful way to cut energy bills for eco-friendly homes, but it also shows how Tesla is moving beyond just selling energy products to consumers.
Would you like to learn more about Hawkes’ cost savings, how it worked as part of its eco-home of the future, and what the plan means for Tesla’s future ambitions? Read the full interview, only in MUSK READS +
The Tesla Energy Plan is for people who own solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall battery. The battery stores solar energy so that it can power the house even when the sun isn’t shining.
With the plan, customers agree to hand over control of their home’s Powerwall. The battery then sends electricity to the grid when it is needed most and draws electricity from the grid when it is cheapest. Other factors, such as personal energy consumption patterns and weather forecasts, are used to decide when to send energy.
It also claims to offer savings of up to 75 percent compared to the UK’s “big six” energy suppliers. So far Hawkes is satisfied.
“Tesla’s plan was great,” said Hawkes Inverse
Hawkes’ house has two solar panels. A 4.5 kilowatt array has been installed by The Little Green Energy Company and a 3.5 kilowatt PVT panel. These PVT panels combine photovoltaic panels that generate electricity with heat-generating thermal panels in one module.
Although Hawkes makes regular adjustments to his home to make it more energy efficient, he happily relinquishes control of the Powerwall.
“I was a bit tired of having my own control system,” says Hawkes. “Handing over all control to Octopus, knowing that when I plug in my car, when I turn on the oven, they’ll take care of it all. When it’s peak time, they have it so that my house will use it from the battery at that time to keep me off the grid. “
But the plan is more than just a small benefit to Tesla users. With CEO Elon Musk aiming to dramatically expand the size of Tesla’s energy business, the plan is part of the company’s silent move to build invisible ‘virtual power plants’.
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