It is three times larger than the next biggest lithium-ion battery and can power up to 30,000 homes. Elon Musk has said it is "just the beginning."
Image: Reuters/D. Gray
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Tesla activated the world's biggest lithium-ion battery in Australia on Friday, an achievement Tesla CEO Elon Musk had previously promised would be "just the beginning."
The roughly football pitch-sized 100-megawatt battery is more than three times larger than the next largest site in Mira Loma, California.
The company says it draws on power delivered from a nearby windfarm and has the capacity to power 30,000 homes for up to an hour during blackouts.
The battery is located some 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of South Australia's capital Adelaide and will also be used to boost electricity supply in the state during peak demand periods.
"South Australia is now leading the world in dispatchable renewable energy, delivered to homes and businesses 24/7," State Premier Jay Weatherill said after the launch's announcement.
Tesla worked with French renewable energy company Neoen to build the farm in little over over 60 days after the companies had signed a contract with South Australia.
Musk had promised to build the site within 100 days of signing or give the battery to the state government for free.
Neither side has disclosed how much the government paid for the battery.
Musk kept his promise to build the battery within 100 daysImage: Reuters/AAP/B. Macmahon
Australia's dirty power
South Australia's decision to build the battery farm is part of a larger $510-million Australian dollar (€325 million/$385 million) plan to make the state independent of Australia's national power grid.
The battery and the plan, which was announced in March, have been controversial. Opponents have derided Tesla's battery as a "Hollywood solution" to the state's energy supply problems.
South Australia gets over 40 percent of its electricity from wind and solar power, but it has struggled to provide electricity during windless periods of peak demand.
Australia is a major exporter of liquid natural gas and coal. It uses coal to power much of its national electricity grid, making it one of the world's worst emitters of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis..
Tesla's road less traveled
Tesla's new Model 3 could revolutionize the car industry, although its own window of cost-advantage is fast running out.
Image: DW/L.Bevanger
CEO Elon Musk unveils his gigafactory
To date, electric cars have been a niche market - a result of their relatively high prices and limited driving range. They account for about one percent of total vehicle sales in the US and two percent worldwide. In the US, half of all e-cars are sold in California, which has long required carmakers to sell a proportion of zero-emission vehicles in the state.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/D.McNew
Musk takes the risk highway
Costs are increasing in the US for e-drivers. Some 17 states currently charge fees for electric vehicles. This is also intended to help the electricity sector to contribute to transport infrastructure. California, for example, has called for a fee of $100 from 2020.
Image: picture-alliance/ANP/J. Lampen
Essen Motor Show 2016: visitors inspect a Tesla 90D e-car
Since launching its first automobile in 2008, Tesla - which now has 30,000 employees - has become a leader in making eco-friendly cars, a 'disruptive' Californian company that could go on to dominate a new industry. And Musk has already gone further than in the car industry predicted since the launch, six years ago, of the Model S.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Meissner
'A computer on wheels'
Some are wary as Tesla hasn't updated the number of Model 3's on back order for more than a year. Charley Grant, who covers Tesla for The Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street" column says demand for Teslas could be softening as competitors roll out electric models, like Chevrolet's Bolt. The Model 3 backlog is about 400,000.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Harms
Cost advantage questions
As China builds its own battery plants, maintaining cost advantage may be difficult. Beijing wants at least 8 percent of a sales in China to be zero-emission vehicles from next year. Tesla's Model 3 has already been beaten to market in the US by GM's Chevrolet Bolt, while VW will spend $10 billion on transforming into an e-car company by 2019. Ford and BMW are doing the same.
