The recently concluded U.S. Energy Storage Summit hosted by Greentech Media in California has showcased two top competitors in the home energy storage market. Tesla and Sonnen, two known companies are both optimistic that the market for home energy storage will earn billions.
Telsa is known as an electric car maker and an energy storage company. It was co-founded by the SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Sonnen is a European company based in Germany that has already sold more than 15,000 lithium ion batteries to homes and businesses. The two big companies are now eyeing the home energy storage market.
Tesla and Sonnen in the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2016
The stage of the recently concluded event became interesting with the presence of Tesla Energy vice president Mateo Jaramillo and Sonnen's chief sales and marketing officer Philip Schroder. The two executives talked about the companies plan on home energy storage space.
According to LA Times, Tesla and Sonnen have similar products, but on how they will compete in the home energy storage market is different. Tesla is known for Powerwall batteries that store excess energy from a rooftop solar power. Tesla plans to sell this battery with its network of retail stores where an electric car and solar roof are also being sold.
On the other hand, Sonnen has a different strategy than Tesla. Its home energy storage space called sonnenBatterie Eco Compact will be sold with the help of Sonnen's major investor General Electric. Sonnen works with contractors that install solar roofs and power supplies. From there, the contractors will emphasize the need for managing home and business storage.
So, which is better Tesla or Sonnen?
According to Electrek comparison, Sonnen's Eco Compact appeared to be three times more expensive than Tesla's Powerwall 2 per kWh home energy storage space. Tesla Powerwall 2 has 14kWh energy capacity, which cost $393 per kWh, while, Sonnen's Eco Compact has a 4 kWh energy capacity which cost $1,488 per kWh.
However, Philip Schroder of Sonnen addressed Tesla's price advantage. He said that Sonnen battery is "battery cell agnostic" which means it can work with other companies that can supply the best technology. Unlike with Tesla, that only relies on Panasonic that treats batteries as commodities that Tesla needs to sell than Sonnen which distributes its product as residential projects. Mateo Jaramillo of Tesla did not dispute Schroder's comment and instead he said the more energy storage can be deployed, the better it will be for the renewable energy.
