Tesla Powerwall home battery installations to begin in Japan

Joey Klender

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Posted on October 15, 2019

Tesla’s Powerwall, a device that stores energy from that is generated from the sun and captured by solar panels, will be available for Japanese homeowners in Spring 2020, according to recent reports.

The Tesla Powerwall is a 13.5 kWh rechargeable battery pack that is capable of supplying a residential building with multiple hours of clean, non-pollution causing energy. The Powerwall was unveiled by the Silicon Valley-based company in 2015, and is slated to cost around 990,000 Yen (about $9,000).

The price includes the installation of the Backup Gateway system that manages the grid connection. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in October that he would be decreasing the price of solar panel and Powerwall installations by around 10% in response to a California power company’s mandatory electric shutoff.

Japanese buyers will be able to purchase the Powerwall system through Tesla’s official website or through a limited number of third-party sellers. Although Tesla has been accepting orders for the Powerwall in Japan since 2016, there were delays on when installations would start due to feed-in-tariffs that were put into place to spike the initial costs of solar energy. These are set to expire later in 2019.

Tesla recognizes that Japan has a thirst for clean energy that could help improve the company’s presence in the country. Shinji Asakura, the Japanese manager of energy products said in an interview in Tokyo that “Tesla believes that the Japanese home battery market has big growth potential,” according to Reuters.

Japan has a lack of fossil fuels naturally and is forced to import many of its energy sources, those mainly being crude oil, natural gas, and uranium. The country utilized nuclear energy for 30% of its needs until 2011 when a power plant in Fukushima created the biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Asakura believes that the addition of the Powerwall batteries to residential buildings will allow residents to supply their homes with power in a more energy-efficient fashion. He anticipates that residents will be using the Tesla battery pack as a backup for when natural disasters knock out power to homes. But hopefully, the up-and-coming installations will convince Japanese citizens to switch to solar power altogether.

Tesla’s global initiative to wean the world off of fossil fuels is becoming a reality. They have once again expanded the region of where Powerwalls will be available. Since 2015, Telsa has installed a Powerwall system at over 50,000 locations in seven different countries, according to a company spokesperson.

Tesla Powerwall home battery installations to begin in Japan

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Tesla’s Driving Visualizations will render traffic cones to optimize safety

Joey Klender

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Posted on October 14, 2019

Tesla’s Driving Visualization feature will be able to recognize and render traffic cones on its vehicle’s displays as a way to optimize safety by creating an even more detailed representation of the road, according to CEO Elon Musk.

A Twitter user by the name of @tesla_addicted sent a video of his Model 3 easily navigating through a highway construction area while utilizing Autopilot. The vehicle recognized traffic cones as highway lanes shifted, a feature that certainly impressed the user who submitted the video to Elon Musk. Musk replied that Driving Visualization would soon begin rendering traffic cones on its screen. This addition would certainly enhance the effectiveness of the visualization feature, as it can assist drivers in maneuvering through tough situations due to lack of visibility.

Tesla’s electric cars are capable of detecting adjacent vehicles on the road and displaying them on a screen, either on the 15″ touch display on the Model 3 or the dash screen in the Model S and Model X. The details of Tesla’s driving visuals have improved significantly over the years, with the recently-released V10 update even allowing electric car owners to perform actions such as zooming in and out in their vehicles’ displays. The capability of Tesla’s electric cars to recognize what type of vehicles are nearby has also shown notable improvement.

Driving Visualization has many advantages. With it, drivers are certainly not subjected to the uncertainty of blind spots, but the addition of terrain obstacles, such as traffic cones, would increase the awareness that drivers would have when operating their vehicle. In most circumstances, traffic cones are outfitted with reflective tape that helps drivers recognize their presence during the night. However, the roads are imperfect and unpredictable, and there will be times where these cones can not be seen in the dark.

The addition of traffic cones to driving visualization would not only increase driver awareness, but it would also prevent the stresses of having to deal with body damage caused by colliding with an obstacle. On a highway when traveling at faster speeds, hitting a traffic cone could be detrimental to a vehicle’s body.

Tesla rolled out its V10 update in September 2019, and Driving Visualization was one of the programs that saw major improvements within its operation. Tesla enthusiast page “Tesla Mother Frunker” performed a 45-minute live stream of the improvements, noting the ability to see other vehicles for a longer period of time on the screen, as well as change the perspective of the Tesla in order to see the surroundings. Increasingly more detailed Driving Visualization gives owners the peace of mind to navigate with confidence.

Tesla’s Driving Visualizations will render traffic cones to optimize safety

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Tesla’s ‘Bioweapon Defense Mode’ is proving invaluable once more amid CA’s wildfires

Simon Alvarez

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Posted on October 13, 2019

Tesla Model S and Model X owners affected by the ongoing wildfires in CA are thanking the electric car maker once more for their vehicles’ Bioweapon Defense Mode, which allows passengers to breathe clean air inside the cabin despite hazardous air conditions outside. 

The state of CA is currently experiencing several blazes. In Southern CA alone, authorities from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department have confirmed that the Sandalwood Fire in Calimesa has taken the lives of two individuals, an 89-year-old woman in a mobile home and another person that is yet to be identified. 

The Sandalwood Fire, which has so far burned 820 acres and was at least 25% contained as of Saturday, is only one of several blazes in the state. The Saddleridge Fire, currently the largest in the state, has burned more than 7,500 acres and destroyed around 31 homes. Amidst these blazes, the South Coast Air Quality Management District has urged residents to protect themselves from heavy smoke and dangerous air conditions. 

It is these dangerous air conditions that are being addressed by Tesla’s Bioweapon Defense Mode for the Model S and X, and some electric car owners have taken to social media to share their experiences with the feature. A Tesla Model X owner who goes by the handle @BLKMDL3 on Twitter, for one, mentioned that Bioweapon Defense Mode was a “lifesaver” as he and his passengers were traveling in Los Angeles.

“Thank you Elon Musk and Tesla for helping us with breathing issues during the fires today in Los Angeles due to bad air quality. Bioweapon defense mode is a life saver,” the Tesla owner wrote.

Fellow Tesla enthusiast and r/TeslaMotors subreddit member u/cherrycolasoda shared a similar experience that was briefly captured on film. The Tesla enthusiast mentioned that Bioweapon Defense Mode significantly helped with the air quality in the cabin as they passed through an area that was practically surrounded by fires. The vehicle’s Autopilot system reportedly functioned normally, following lane lines without any difficulties despite the conditions on the road.

Bioweapon Defense Mode is made possible by the extremely large HEPA filter in the Model X (later equipped on the Model S as well). Tesla notes that Bioweapon Defense Mode is “100 times more effective than premium automotive filters, removing at least 99.97% of fine particulate matter and gaseous pollutants, as well as bacteria, viruses, pollen, and mold spores.”

These statements were met with a notable degree of skepticism and dismissal from critics, though Tesla later demonstrated Bioweapon Defense Mode’s capabilities by holding a test on a Model X. During the demonstration, the company placed the all-electric SUV inside a bubble contaminated with extreme levels of pollution (1,000 µg/m3 of PM2.5 vs. the EPA’s “good” air quality index limit of 12 µg/m3). Bioweapon Defense Mode effectively scrubbed the air inside the Model X’s cabin in 2 minutes, and over the next few minutes, the vehicle started cleaning the air around the SUV as well.

Watch u/cherrycolasoda‘s brief video of his drive through CA’s wildfires in below.

Bioweapon defense mode at its finest. from r/teslamotors

Tesla’s ‘Bioweapon Defense Mode’ is proving invaluable once more amid CA’s wildfires

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