Tesla Powerwall 3 is here, it sure looks different, but is it LFP and is it cheaper?

After a post from the Tesla Motors Club was shared to X, Elon Musk has just confirmed the Tesla Powerwall 3 is official and some lucky customers are already having it installed.

TMC user Andy92782 posted photos today saying the installer said this was the third PW3 he’d done so far.

If we look at Andy’s post from yesterday, the hardware arrived, wrapped in black plastic on his driveway, the unreleased, unannounced hardware featured a shipment label with a part description of ‘POWERWALL 3’.

So what’s new with the Powerwall 3?

In terms of size, the battery is around 2″ shorter, 6″ thinner and about 1″ thicker compared to Powerwall 2. As we know we’ve seen Tesla recently discount the price of Powerwall, even offering a rare rebate off the price in Australia, which some had (correctly) speculated that could be an indicator this was coming.

Musk posted confirming the product that is currently still not listed on the Tesla website, saying PW3 (Powerwall 3) 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.

This statement strongly suggests upgraded internals of PW3. PW2 offered 13.5 kWh capacity, but just 5kW in continuous power output. This means in the event you lose power from the grid, you may need to chose which devices to leave powered on (i.e. the fridge computer and heater), and not being able to run the microwave, dryer or hair dryer.

With an increase power output, perhaps even double this, most households could use power freely (with the exception of charging EVs), and then the question is, how long could you run your whole house on PW3?

Given Tesla’s experience with Powerwall 1 and 2 across a number of countries, Tesla likely has a great dataset with how long the average and the worst-case power outages last for. This will enable them to appropriately size the battery capacity to support the whole house to get through an average outage.

When we look at the pictures provided by the TMC user, the design of the Powerwall has changed significantly. While the Powerwall 2 was an elegantly designed product, this looks far more utilitarian, a box to house the batteries, terminals on the sides and a glossy white front with a Tesla logo to make it look a little fancy, but that really high quality look appears to have made way to a Powerwall 3 that is hopefully cheaper.

There’s no commentary from the TMC user on any potential price adjustments given the different hardware.

Given the dimension changes, it all but confirms Tesla moved to a different battery, almost certainly Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) that is found in a number of Tesla vehicles and offers increase charging cycles, with barely any degradation, despite cycling to 100% state of charge.

This is a really promising development, particularly if this is LFP and Tesla can land a significantly reduced installed cost. There’s no word on timing, but there’s 1/4 of all Aussie homes with rooftop solar, ready and waiting as a target market if you can make a decent capacity battery affordable.