Tesla shares had dropped slightly on Thursday, though not enough to offset the past month’s gains, as the automaker is soon expected to announce its entry to the home storage battery space, a potential source of monetization for a company that has typically been in the red.
For most of April, Musk has been posting teases, mostly via Twitter, that it will be entering the home battery space, and announcing its entry in the coming days. On March 30, Musk had tweeted that Tesla will be announcing a “major new product line,” adding that it is “not a car.” The automaker is scheduled to make a major announcement at 8 p.m. Pacific time today, April 30.
Even prior to Musk’s late March tweet, Tesla had been teasing the possibility of a home battery launch, saying in February that the product will be ready for launch “within months,” with production beginning in the summer. The new battery products may likely be based on the batteries used on Tesla’s popular Model S electric car. Musk, however, has been very cagey about Tesla’s reveal, not saying what the battery will be used for, but merely dropping hints that it may be used as a generator should the power go out.
Tesla shares had closed today’s trading at $226.05, a drop of 2.75 percent, or $6.40 from the previous day. In after-hours trading, TSLA is trading slightly lower at $225.85 as of 5:54 p.m. ET.