When Elon Musk announced Tesla's new Powerwall battery technology last week, it wasn't quite the big news it could have been, since we'd been given a heads up a few days before about his intended unveiling. Still, that doesn't seem to have impacted people's interest in the high capacity UPS system, as according to a recent earnings call, Tesla is sold out and the next few batches are reserved , right through to midway through 2016.

In the call, Musk said that more than 38,000 of the storage stations have been reserved so far, with a relatively even split between those wanting the smaller-sized, 7Kwh batteries and the larger 10 Kwh powerpacks, as per Engadget. The latter has seen more interest from companies, with the average firm looking to order 10 to act as a backup in the case of a power outage, but also to reduce costs by storing power at night when electricity is cheaper and using it throughout the day.

That's the main reasoning for home users too, although they may be more likely to combine it with solar and wind power to produce their own renewable energy and store it when it's in excess.

All of this added interest means that when the Tesla Gigafactory comes online later this year, it will need to go into full production of batteries – for the Tesla cars and Powerwall – immediately, though even it may struggle to keep up with demand in the short term.

It's hoped by some analysts that by combining local storage of power with renewable sources, that the strain can be removed from grids during peak hours, spikes and troughs can be reduced and that it could even reduce the need for new power stations in the future.

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KitGuru Says: Are any of you interested in picking up Musk's new battery technology? At just over £2,200 for the small one, it's not exactly pennies. 

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