Shell buys Sonnen, Tesla’s competitor in the home battery business

Enlarge / An employee working for the manufacturer of solar batteries, Sonnen GmbH, in the Bavarian village Wildpoldsried, southern Germany, is pictured on July 5, 2016. (credit: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images)
On Friday, oil major Royal Dutch Shell and German energy storage company Sonnen announced that Shell would acquire Sonnen for an undisclosed amount.
Sonnen has been one of the top competitors with Tesla's Powerwall in the US home battery market. The company built its base in Germany, attaching batteries for self-consumption to homes with solar panels. Sonnen now claims 40,000 batteries installed in households in Germany, the US, and Australia.
The company's assets include proprietary software that optimizes a home's battery use in combination with solar power.
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