Tesla's cars can now moonlight as a backup generator for your house.
Tesla is expanding its Powershare Home Backup feature from the Cybertruck to the Model 3 and Model Y, letting those EVs send stored power into a home during an outage. The feature currently requires a Tesla Powerwall 3 to work. Support for the older Powerwall 2 and Powerwall Plus is "coming soon," according to Tesla, but isn't live yet. Tesla says the Model 3 and Model Y can extend home backup power past two days.
This isn't a first for the industry. Kia and GM already offer vehicle-to-home power on some models, and Nissan's Leaf supported vehicle-to-grid charging years before Tesla built out its own charging network. Tesla's advantage is volume: millions of Model 3s and Model Ys are already on the road, dwarfing the installed base of rival bidirectional-charging EVs.
The catch is the fine print: this only works if you've also bought a Powerwall 3, so don't expect your existing home battery setup to suddenly gain EV backup for free.