Editor Blogs

    Elon Musk Built the World's Largest Battery in 100 Days On a Dare

    11/24/2017
    Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD
    Tag: @elonmusk @Tesla #battery @Atlassian @mcannonbrookes
    Elon Musk Built the World's Largest Battery in 100 Days On a Dare

    One time, I bet a friend I could finish an entire pizza. Elon Musk just bet an entire continent that he could build the world’s largest battery. Basically the same, right?

    The genesis of this challenge was a Twitter exchange between Musk, the real-life Iron Man and CEO of Tesla, and Mike Cannon-Brookes, CEO of Australian software company Atlassian. In response to crippling power outages across South Australia, Cannon-Brookes challenged Musk to engineer a solution. Musk agreed to build a 100MW battery array, and at Cannon-Brookes’ goading, within 100 days.

    But billionaires don’t do gentlemen’s bets. The stakes – if Musk didn’t complete the 100MW battery within 100 days, it’d be free. And on Friday, Musk officially announced the battery’s completion ... 40 days early.

    As noted by CNET, the 100MW array of Tesla Powerpacks is connected to the Hornsdale wind farm, a 315MW renewable electricity project located between 8km and 24km north of Jamestown in South Australia.

    The Tesla array will be officially launched this week.

    Read more here: https://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-just-built-the-worlds-largest-battery-thanks-to-a-bet/

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    Power Systems Design

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    Power Systems Design

    Power Systems Design is a leading global media platform serving the power electronics design engineering community. It delivers in-depth technical content, industry news, and product insights to engineers and decision-makers developing advanced power systems and technologies.

    Published 12× per year across North America and Europe, Power Systems Design is distributed through online and fully digital editions, complemented by eNewsletters, webinars, and multimedia content. The platform covers key areas including power conversion, semiconductors, renewable energy, automotive electrification, AI power systems, and industrial applications—supporting innovation across the global electronics industry.