Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, announced that the company has completed the design for a new kind of battery that will be used to power homes. Based on Tesla’s lithium-ion battery technology, the new battery is expected to help the company become a leader in the growing home energy storage market. During a conference call with investors last Wednesday, Musk suggested that the design of the battery is complete and production could begin in about 6 months. “The long-term demand for stationary energy storage is extraordinary”, stated JB Straubel, Tesla’s chief technical officer, during that call. “We’ve done a huge amount of effort there and have talked to major utilities and energy service companies”, Straubel added. Home energy storage is a potentially enormous market, and as the electric car industry drives battery technology forward, prices are dropping and performance is increasing. Nissan hails its LEAF battery as being a good backup power source for […]