Since 2006, Tesla Motors‘ cars have earned their reputation as industry paragons of energy sustainability. As of last week, they will utilize their technology to revolutionize the home and commercial energy market. At the Tesla Energy Powerwall Home Battery Event held in Hawthorne, CA, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced plans to release the Powerwall Home Battery.

The Powerwall battery will act as power storage for homes and businesses. While there are many uses for the battery’s energy storage, it is mainly seen as a storage system for residences off the energy grid (e.g. residences using solar energy), residences looking to protect against power outages, or residences looking to purchase energy at times when the price is lower and consume it when the price goes up. And while all these will eventually save homeowners money, it’s $3500 price tag will probably lead businesses to become the earliest adopters of the technology. Specifically, businesses that need extra assurances against power-outages. For example, movie theaters, are said to be already looking into this product.

After the event, some tech reporters were quick to point out that home energy storage isn’t exactly new: UPS (or, Uninterruptible Power Supply) technology has been on the market for some time now. However, Tesla’s big announcement brought a few major quality improvements to the existing technology. Tesla’s battery is smaller and more lightweight than any of it’s competitors, and it comes with Tesla’s record of reliability.

But perhaps more importantly, from a branding perspective, by unveiling a Tesla-branded battery at a large event with the whole industry watching, they’ve brought public attention to UPS technology.  By leveraging their existing brand equity in addition to innovating on the existing technology, Tesla was able to bring UPS technology to the forefront of the public eye.

What Sparks Our Fire: The power of brands shifting its public interest towards energy efficient and sustainable technology