Yeah, pretty much. House could talk to car & know when you’re expected home, so temp & humidity would be perfect just as you arrive. No wasted energy.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2020
On September 22nd, at Battery Day, Musk said:
"That's a pet project that I'd love to get going on. I don't know, maybe we'll start working on that next year. Because I just think, man, you could really make a way better home HVAC system that's really quiet and super efficient, super energy efficient, and also has a way better filter for particles. And it works very reliably, and we've already developed that for the car. So the heat pump in the Model Y is really pretty spectacular. It's tiny, it's efficient, it has to last for 15 years, it's got to work in all kinds of conditions from the coldest winter to the hottest summer. So we've actually already done a massive amount of the work necessary for a really kick-ass home HVAC."
Musk talking about this worried existing players like Daikin in the market. Tesla's move represents a "big threat," according to one company executive. But another company executive sees more business opportunities in this. "We need to think of it as a chance and consider partnering with Tesla," this source said, according to Nikkei Asia. Such associations are not uncommon in the industry.
"Tesla is looking toward a world where consumers buy and sell excess electricity created through energy management," said the Itochu Research Institute's Sanshiro Fukao, an auto-industry expert. "It doesn't see air conditioners as mere hardware."
Tesla's prior entries into a business or industry have often begun with a partnership. The company first teamed up with Lotus to create electric vehicles. Later Tesla partnered with Panasonic in the production of lithium-ion batteries. This is why there is a real possibility that Tesla could enter the home HVAC system business, perhaps again in partnership. "Tesla will use a partnership to prioritize speed," said Hitoshi Kaise, a partner at Roland Berger in Tokyo.
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
