Apple to Use Tesla's 'Megapack' Battery to Help Power Apple Park at New Energy Farm

[Makosuke]

Err, 60MV? 100MV? ... 100 million volts?! I know this is April 1st, but this is fundamentally wrong. Tesla Megapacks typically operate in the 400-480V range (AC 3-phase). Perhaps you meant megawatt-hours? ie: 60 MWh? 100 MWh?

Beat me to it. If you want to get pedantic, the DC side of them is somewhat higher than 480Vac, but it's still multiple orders of magnitude away from 1MV, let alone 60MV.

The release says right there it's 240MWh, so it's not 60MWh. The only thing left is 60MW, which you could also guess from it being a 4-hour 240MWh battery.

 

[citysnaps]

April fools! Apple really cares about the environment when you can't replace the top case in your computer yourself as they will not provide the tool to calibrate the trackpad. And you can't replace the camera or screen in your iOS device as it has to be authorized to do so, even though you can connect it properly. Way to waive a false flag apple.

After warranty is up, most USB-C macs and newer iOS devices, even if they can be fixed are not allowed to be and forced to become junk that is unable to be donated.

Apple: here is my middle finger. I will vote for right to repair laws.

What a nice whine, one that has nothing to do with the story.

 

[citysnaps]

It's been fascinating watching Apple invest heavily in solar over the years. I believe they lead the country with the largest installed solar capacity.

 

[Makosuke]

Tesla makes no profits. Nobody knows for sure if their accounting in China is accurate. The profit they made last year was from selling energy credits that the government gives them on top of subsidies and tax breaks. Elon went and sold these energy credits and spent that money on trying to pump crypto pyramid schemes. Completely mad degenerate behavior.

What happened to Hyperloop? Now it’s changed to normal cars in tunnels. But what happened to that running company? Going nowhere.

The guy keeps over promising things that can’t happen. Just a perpetual cycle of hype with cheering trolls and bots making it look like genuine excitement.

I hate to defend Musk (or Telsa for that matter), because I think he's a narcissistic jerk who thinks he's a lot smarter than he really is and has some sort of mixed ADHD/God-complex of trying to single-handedly leverage the money he made from inflated car company stock to take control of human scientific progress in eight different ways at once.

...but in fairness, companies he started have succeeded at impressive engineering feats. Tesla cars are unreliable, but they are otherwise extremely impressive from a purely technological standpoint, and priced at impressively low levels. The Tesla Powerpack systems (smaller-scale predecessor to the Megapack) are also priced extremely competitively and for the most part actually perform as claimed. And despite their recent series of exploding prototypes, SpaceX has successfully made many commercial orbital launches.

I'm not giving Musk himself credit for much of this--you can say he's pushing the envelope, but it looks a heck of a lot more like wildly overpromising things the engineers he hired (or any engineers) are incapable of delivering on no matter how much money and how much hype he throws at them.

 

[0924487]

April fools! Apple really cares about the environment when you can't replace the top case in your computer yourself as they will not provide the tool to calibrate the trackpad. And you can't replace the camera or screen in your iOS device as it has to be authorized to do so, even though you can connect it properly. Way to waive a false flag apple.

After warranty is up, most USB-C macs and newer iOS devices, even if they can be fixed are not allowed to be and forced to become junk that is unable to be donated.

Apple: here is my middle finger. I will vote for right to repair laws.

Apple replaced my MBP15 2018 top case for free out of warranty because battery was swollen.

Apple replaced my MBP15 2017 top case for free because of sticky keys.

I paid for many Mac repairs out of warranty using insurance.

Apple gave me a new MBP15 2018 for free when they took my MBP15 2017 for various repair-related reasons.

So, unless you don't want to spend a single dime on Apple repairs, Apple is actually very generous when it comes to out of warranty repairs. They also deliver excellent service.

 

[Return Zero]

Missed opportunity for an amazing click bait title: “Apple Acquiring Tesla...” then after the break, “... Megapacks for New Energy Farm”.

Also, I can understand how MV passed a proofread but not ‘Telsa’... even spellcheck/autocorrect gets that one, lol.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I’m happy Apple continues to lead the industry in their ambitious environmental goals

It’s looking like they will achieve their goal of going 100% green before 2030!

I hope other companies can do the same so we can solve climate change

Apple themselves are already 100% green: campus’ and retail stores. Apple is pushing for 100% green for their suppliers in the chain.

although this isn’t the biggest storage farm Tesla has built, it’s certainly significant. Read this news yesterday and was quite impressed.

 

[dlewis23]

Jesus, how much power do American homes consume? 😵 Even if your hot water is electrically heated that's still more than double what a German home for 4-5 people consumes.

An American home is very different than a German home or most European homes in a couple of big ways. An American home is typically much bigger and often the American home has air conditioning. A/C uses a lot of electricity to cool a home and in many places it is used all year long.

 

[Jony Quest]

Apple: here is my middle finger. I will vote for right to repair laws.

I wish there was a middle finger option to respond to your post.

The loudest usually know the least.

Lol, I’ve worked at a cell phone repair shop before… who said screens can’t be replaced, except by Apple? I’ve literally never heard that from anyone except you.
I know it’s a bummer for you that when people came in with a stolen phone; I couldn’t just swap out a new touchID button for them & let them use stolen property because those jerks over at Apple probably just want them to spend money on their own phone instead- but I’m sure you’ll get over it.

 

[Jakewilk]

April fools! Apple really cares about the environment when you can't replace the top case in your computer yourself as they will not provide the tool to calibrate the trackpad. And you can't replace the camera or screen in your iOS device as it has to be authorized to do so, even though you can connect it properly. Way to waive a false flag apple.

After warranty is up, most USB-C macs and newer iOS devices, even if they can be fixed are not allowed to be and forced to become junk that is unable to be donated.

Apple: here is my middle finger. I will vote for right to repair laws.

To be honest, e-waste, while often toxic, is not an existential threat. Especially since most of apple’s products focus heavily on non-toxic materials. I could care less about more aluminum and lithium in the landfills. Believe it or not we can afford to kick those cans down the road until the day it makes economic sense for companies to stop.

The existential environmental threat we really face is climate change, which is facilitated *only* by the production of greenhouse gasses. Apple’s efforts to become 100% carbon neutral in both operations, assembly, supply chain, and product use is a big deal. It’s not hypocritical to exert enormous efforts to combat climate change while putting comparatively less effort into preventing e-waste; it’s good prioritizing.

Should apple do more about e-waste and repairability? Yes. I do not excuse them of their shortcomings, but we would do well to differentiate noble causes from critical issues.

 

[DanTSX]

Lol @ all the Elon hate.

An American home is very different than a German home or most European homes in a couple of big ways. An American home is typically much bigger and often the American home has air conditioning. A/C uses a lot of electricity to cool a home and in many places it is used all year long.

I honestly doubt that the consumption levels are all that different between Euro and Germany when made on a more apples to apples comparison of what is “average”.

Germans do have Americans beat in Window technology. But you have to factor in the limited temperate period where windows can be comfortably left open, sizes of houses and relative age of houses. Utilities are also a factor. Americans are more likely onto have well water. Also not sure if Germans use Gas ovens. But in the USA a gas oven can save a ton if you bake often.

 

[DanTSX]

To be honest, e-waste, while often toxic, is not an existential threat. Especially since most of apple’s products focus heavily on non-toxic materials. I could care less about more aluminum and lithium in the landfills. Believe it or not we can afford to kick those cans down the road until the day it makes economic sense for companies to stop.

The existential environmental threat we really face is climate change, which is facilitated *only* by the production of greenhouse gasses. Apple’s efforts to become 100% carbon neutral in both operations, assembly, supply chain, and product use is a big deal. It’s not hypocritical to exert enormous efforts to combat climate change while putting comparatively less effort into preventing e-waste; it’s good prioritizing.

Should apple do more about e-waste and repairability? Yes. I do not excuse them of their shortcomings, but we would do well to differentiate noble causes from critical issues.

Production of Apple products overseas is leading to climate change. Controls are lax, and your viewpoint explained above is exactly the problem. Outsourced pollution. Out of sight and out of mind.

 

[salajm]

Tesla makes no profits. Nobody knows for sure if their accounting in China is accurate. The profit they made last year was from selling energy credits that the government gives them on top of subsidies and tax breaks. Elon went and sold these energy credits and spent that money on trying to pump crypto pyramid schemes. Completely mad degenerate behavior.

What happened to Hyperloop? Now it’s changed to normal cars in tunnels. But what happened to that running company? Going nowhere.

The guy keeps over promising things that can’t happen. Just a perpetual cycle of hype with cheering trolls and bots making it look like genuine excitement.

Tesla is making profits - credits are valid income. And if they wanted, they can make bilions of profits every quarter, but fortunately they do not want. They are massively investing their money to build 3 factories at a time, supercharger network, new battery manufacturing and factories. And still have 1 billion free cash flow per quarter. They have actually no problems with money at all.

 

[FightTheFuture]

Apple replaced my MBP15 2018 top case for free out of warranty because battery was swollen.

Apple replaced my MBP15 2017 top case for free because of sticky keys.

I paid for many Mac repairs out of warranty using insurance.

Apple gave me a new MBP15 2018 for free when they took my MBP15 2017 for various repair-related reasons.

So, unless you don't want to spend a single dime on Apple repairs, Apple is actually very generous when it comes to out of warranty repairs. They also deliver excellent service.

The Genius Bar has a flat rate to replace certain components out of warranty. Repairing notebooks back in the late 2000s was fine. But it was very easy to piece it back together with a power button that doesn’t push in all the way, or a port slightly out of place. It’s not worth the extra $200 to not get it done right.

 

[Reason077]

Telsa !! Does anyone proofread the article before you publish it ?

Yes, and not just this. There are so many errors in this article, it looks like it was written by a child. It's very poor quality reporting and I expect better from a professional website like MacRumors.com

 

[BeefCake 15]

What's wrong with their largest battery offering?

 

[longhorn2004]

Tesla is making profits - credits are valid income. And if they wanted, they can make bilions of profits every quarter, but fortunately they do not want. They are massively investing their money to build 3 factories at a time, supercharger network, new battery manufacturing and factories. And still have 1 billion free cash flow per quarter. They have actually no problems with money at all.

^^^This^^^. They have stated this many times.

 

[Ted13]

...but in fairness, companies he started have succeeded at impressive engineering feats. Tesla cars are unreliable, but they are otherwise extremely impressive from a purely technological standpoint, and priced at impressively low levels. The Tesla Powerpack systems (smaller-scale predecessor to the Megapack) are also priced extremely competitively and for the most part actually perform as claimed. And despite their recent series of exploding prototypes, SpaceX has successfully made many commercial orbital launches.

I'm not giving Musk himself credit for much of this--you can say he's pushing the envelope, but it looks a heck of a lot more like wildly overpromising things the engineers he hired (or any engineers) are incapable of delivering on no matter how much money and how much hype he throws at them.

"Tesla cars are unreliable"?? Compared to what, exactly? BMWs? ICE cars in general with oil changes, gear shift, brake pad and engine problems? ICE dealership networks that make their profits from endless repairs and part replacements? Or other EVs like the GM Bolt???

Yes, absolutely Tesla has all sorts of areas in which it needs to improve, certainly including reliability. But they are already vastly ahead of the competition.

So far as Musk is concerned, he too has all sort of negative sides. And yes, his wild overpromising is in the "fake it until I make it" category. But the fact is that too works -- he hires the very best engineers and pushes them into doing way more than they thought they were capable of. The results speak for themselves

 

[robjulo]

Did they use solar powered backhoes, dump trucks and eighteen wheelers when they built that monstrosity?

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

I’m surprised Apple is using Tesla.

 

[BWhaler]

Very cool. I love Apple’s leadership on matters like this.

 

[kyleh22]

Jesus, how much power do American homes consume? 😵 Even if your hot water is electrically heated that's still more than double what a German home for 4-5 people consumes.

25-30KWh/day. 240MW should be enough for 8K homes. There are two main drivers for this: A) american homes on average are twice the size of german homes (2,600 square feet. Germange 1,200 square feet) B) American homes have more electric heat and electric AC.

 

[wd4fsu]

Jesus, how much power do American homes consume? 😵 Even if your hot water is electrically heated that's still more than double what a German home for 4-5 people consumes.

We do love our air conditioning!

 

[dlopan]

Germany is for the most part a lot cooler than the US. Trying living in NM/AZ/CA in the summer with out it.
Apple should have bought Telsa. Apple run by an accountant will probably be much as they are for the duration. Tesla will be in space and owning much of the physical internet and owning a lot of solar projects. Come on Apple think different.

 

[trichardlin]

Yeah Megawatt hours. It’s a just a typo...

Uhh, W to V is not a typo, it's more like a complete misunderstanding.