Mercedes enters U.S residential solar+storage market with Vivint solar partnership

The two companies will introduce a joint offering that will provide customers with Mercedes-Benz batteries coupled with Vivint Solar’s solar energy systems.

This will be Vivint Solar’s first collaboration to integrate batteries with its offering. This will also be Mercedes-Benz Energy’s first collaboration with a U.S. solar provider.

These storage systems are made and used in Mercedes-Benz’s electric and hybrid vehicles.

“As Mercedes-Benz electrifies its vehicle fleet, solar plus storage is essential to enable those vehicles to be powered by clean energy,” said Boris von Bormann, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas, LLC.

By complementing energy storage with rooftop solar, Vivint says its customers will be able to have more control over the renewable energy they generate.

In addition to providing a backup power source if the grid goes down, the new combined solution may help its customers reduce energy costs.

Each energy storage system will consist of modular 2.5 kWh batteries that can be combined to create a system as large as 20 kWh.

“According to Parks Associates research, 79% of rooftop solar PV owners purchased their system to save money on electricity,” said Tom Kerber, director IoT strategy, at Parks Associates.

“Adding storage is an obvious approach to improving the return on investment on a solar solution. Three-quarters of households view battery storage as an important addition to solar panels.”

California will be the first U.S. market where Vivint Solar will offer this solution directly to homeowners.