Space X founder Elon Musk always aims to do the extraordinary, and he has repeated the same magic. His company Tesla has successfully built the world's biggest lithium-ion battery in just 60 days.
Earlier, Musk bet that his company Tesla will build the biggest battery humans have ever witnessed within a time period of 100 days, and now he has done it with 40 days to spare. The mammoth battery is currently placed near Jamestown, about 200 km north of Adelaide. It is connected to a wind farm run by French energy company Neoen.
How did it happen?
It was in September 2016 that Tesla first thought of developing a mega battery as South Australia faced mass electricity failure after being hit by lightning strikes and tornadoes. On December 2016 and March 2017, South Australia faced similar electricity woes which compelled Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to blame the state's recent turn to renewable sources of energy.
In the midst of these issues, Lyndon Rive, the head of Tesla's battery division, said that the Elon Musk-led company is capable of developing batteries of 100 - 300 MW capacity within a time frame of 100 days to solve South Australia's electricity woes.
After listening to the claims of Lyndon Rive, Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes took to his Twitter handle and asked Elon Musk whether the company is actually building these big lithium-ion batteries.
Elon Musk soon replied, tweeting, "Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?."
Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017
Tesla's milestone achievement in 60 days
After getting the plan approved by the Government and regulators, the countdown began on September 30. Tesla claims that the mammoth battery, when fully charged, is capable of powering up to 30,000 homes for an hour. After learning Musk has won the bet, Mike Cannon-Brookes took his Twitter handle and congratulated the researchers in Tesla for their outstanding efforts. He also added that he is quite happy to lose a bet like this.
⚡️ Thank you @elonmusk, Tesla’s amazing Aussie team, @jayweatherill & all SA ?? Never been more happy to lose a bet. 3x bigger than any ? in world! Huge step for Australia & proving what we can do. Only lumps of coal req’d are for #AusPol stockings ? https://t.co/Xm8hm5y33O
— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) November 23, 2017
