Tesla starts Powerwall 3 installations: it looks worse but is more useful

Tesla has started Powerwall 3 installations despite not officially unveiling the product yet. The first installations confirm Electrek’s first exclusive reports, but we are still missing details.

In April, Electrek reported that Tesla was preparing to launch the Powerwall 3 as we discovered the new product had been certified by a handful of electric utilities in the US.

At the time, we didn’t know much about the new home battery pack other than information from previous internal comments from the Tesla Energy team about working on “easier installation, better aesthetic, and higher performance.”

In May, we released a new report with more details – confirming that Tesla Powerwall 3 has 11.5 kW of power, representing a major power increase from Powerwall 2.

Now Tesla has started Powerwall 3 installations as confirmed by TMC forum user andy92782, who shared images of his own installation in southern California:

Tesla has yet to officially launch the product and release all the specs. We assume that it is because all new installations won’t have Powerwall 3 and some will still require Powerwall 2.

But Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on this early installation and confirmed the previously reported “ease of installation and higher power”

PW3 is optimized for ease of installation & high power, which means that a single Powerwall can serve as an uninterruptible power supply for most homes. This is a big deal for ensuring that the lights stay on and you can power all your devices in the event of a power outage.

As we previously reported, it did appear that the goal of the Powerwall 3 is to have more installations where a single Powerwall suffices, which is currently not the case.

The new Powerwall is also smaller overall size albeit an inch thicker than the previous version.

Aesthetically speaking, you could make the argument that it looks worse. The sides appear to now be exposed metal rather than the smooth grooved black plastic with lighting strip in the Powerwall 2.

Tesla hasn’t released the energy capacity of the Powerwall 3 yet.

We expect more details to come when the company fully transitions to the new version.