Daimler exits market for home batteries
With batteries in high demand Daimler decided it won’t sell any batteries to home owners any longer as they deem them to be technologically too advanced (or too precious) for residential use. The stationery storage packs were introduced three years ago via Daimler’s Accumotive.
Daimler had started selling batteries for homes similar to Tesla Powerwalls back in 2015 and also launched Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas in November 2016. However, they will now seize all those activities with Mercedes-Benz spokesperson Madeleine Herdlitschka reasoning: “It’s not necessary to have a car battery at home: They don’t move, they don’t freeze. It’s overdesigned.”
While the argument of overengineering stands, residential energy storage is also a business that is alien to a traditional carmaker such as Mercedes. Different from Tesla that banks on both its connections to the market for solar power but more so its growing capacity to manufacture its own cells, Daimler’s subsidiary Accumotive assembles cells to form battery modules rather than producing them. Only today, Daimler opted for CATL as its main cell supplier (we reported).
Still, “E-mobility is not just a car; it’s more than a car,” Herdlitschka said. Customers who will want to buy a battery for home use with the soon to be electric Mercedes will thus be advised on other options on the market. Daimler will also continue to look into large scale installation of EV batteries claiming a 2nd life.
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