Image: @RepThomasMassie on Twitter
Thomas Massie, U.S. Representative for Kentucky’s 4th congressional district since 2012, revealed in a recent tweet that his entire house has been running on a battery salvaged from a totalled Tesla Model S, 24 hours a day for the last four years with zero interruptions.
24 hours per day, with zero interruptions for four years, our house has been running on a battery I repurposed from a wrecked Tesla Model S. It’s recharged each day with about 17 kilowatts of solar panels (69 panels). It has the capacity of about 6 powerwalls. Follow the science! https://t.co/xScAWofxzR
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 11, 2021
The salvaged battery is recharged every day by a total of 69 solar panels that produce around 17 kW worth of power, explained Massie. The businessman turned politician added that the Model S battery has the same capacity as “about 6 Powerwalls,” one of which alone can comfortably power your average home for over two days at full charge.
That’s pretty accurate — the Model S P90D’s battery is rated at 90 kWh of capacity, whereas one Tesla Powerwall stores 12.2 kWh of usable energy while maintaining a 10% reserve.
Massie, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering as well as a Master’s degree from MIT, jerry-rigged the power storage and distribution system himself.
“Everything in our house, including geothermal heat-pump and deep freezer (full of grass-fed beef we raised), is running on this rekt ModelS Tesla battery right now,” Massie said in a tweet from 2019. “I built it & programmed it in C on a Pi.”
Massie’s strong opinions on healthcare and other subjects aside, the setup is pretty impressive. It also goes to show just how sustainable electric cars are — even if they get totalled or reach end-of-life, their batteries can still be used to power entire residences.
