Elon Musk: Green Cars Will Triple Energy Demand

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Motors Inc., told electric utility owners they shouldn’t fear that his battery systems will put them out of business because electric cars will triple power demand in the future.

Less than a third of that demand will be served by distributed generation, like the battery storage system and solar panels Musk has proposed for home and businesses, he said Monday at a gathering of utility executives in New Orleans.

Musk unveiled a suite of batteries in April that he said would “fundamentally change the way the world uses energy.” The equipment allows businesses and homeowners to store power, reducing the need to rely on utility grids for electricity. Tesla has announced at least 10 commercial installations for batteries that can store a total of 11.2 megawatts of power, according to a June 5 Bloomberg New Energy Finance newsletter.

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