How long will a Tesla Powerwall 3 keep your power on?
With no sun, one Tesla Powerwall 3 runs a fridge, freezer, furnace fan, lights, Wi-Fi, TV and microwave for about 44 h. With 7 kW of solar panels to recharge it, it gets many homes through a three-day outage.
The Powerwall 3 combines a 13.5 kWh battery with a built-in 11.5 kW solar inverter, so it suits new solar-plus-storage installs.
Runtime for one appliance at a time
| Appliance | kWh/day | Runtime | Power OK? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator | 1.4 | 9.4 days | ✓ |
| Chest freezer | 0.8 | 15.9 days | ✓ |
| Modem + Wi-Fi router | 0.5 | 26.5 days | ✓ |
| LED lights (6 rooms) | 0.3 | 42.5 days | ✓ |
| Phones & laptop charging | 0.2 | 70.8 days | ✓ |
| Gas furnace blower (winter) | 3.0 | 4.2 days | ✓ |
| TV + streaming box | 0.5 | 26.5 days | ✓ |
| Box / ceiling fans (2) | 0.8 | 15.9 days | ✓ |
| Window AC (one room) | 7.2 | 42 h | ✓ |
| Central AC (3-ton) | 28.0 | 11 h | ✓ |
| Heat pump heating (winter) | 30.0 | 10 h | ✓ |
| Space heater | 6.0 | 51 h | ✓ |
| Well pump (1 hp) | 1.0 | 12.7 days | ✓ |
| Sump pump (⅓ hp, storm) | 1.6 | 8.0 days | ✓ |
| Electric water heater | 9.0 | 34 h | ✓ |
| CPAP (no humidifier) | 0.3 | 39.8 days | ✓ |
| Oxygen concentrator | 8.4 | 36 h | ✓ |
| Microwave | 0.3 | 38.6 days | ✓ |
| Coffee maker | 0.2 | 70.8 days | ✓ |
| Electric cooktop (1 burner) | 1.1 | 11.3 days | ✓ |
| Washing machine (1 load) | 0.5 | 25.5 days | ✓ |
| EV charging (Level 1, 120 V) | 5.6 | 55 h | ✓ |
Typical running watts × hours a day; starting full, no recharge. “Check surge” means the motor’s start-up draw may exceed the battery’s surge rating.
Runtime for common outage plans
| What stays on | kWh/day | 1 unit | 2 units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep the food cold & lights on | 2.3 | 5.5 days | 11.0 days |
| Essentials + furnace fan + TV | 6.9 | 44 h | 3.7 days |
| Rural: essentials + well + sump | 6.0 | 51 h | 4.2 days |
| Summer outage with window AC | 10.8 | 28 h | 57 h |
| Medical: CPAP + essentials | 2.6 | 4.8 days | 9.7 days |
| Most of the house incl. central AC | 33.5 | 9 h | 18 h |
“✗ power” means everything switched on at once would draw more than the battery can deliver.
With solar: a three-day outage in 19 cities
One Tesla Powerwall 3 plus 7 kW of south-facing panels, running the essentials above (6.9 kWh/day). The outage starts at 6 pm.
| City | Overcast January | Typical July |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle, WA | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Portland, OR | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| San Francisco, CA | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Los Angeles, CA | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Phoenix, AZ | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Las Vegas, NV | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Denver, CO | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Salt Lake City, UT | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Dallas, TX | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Houston, TX | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Minneapolis, MN | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Chicago, IL | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Detroit, MI | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Atlanta, GA | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Miami, FL | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Charlotte, NC | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Washington, DC | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| New York, NY | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
| Boston, MA | all 3 days ✓ | all 3 days ✓ |
Questions about the Tesla Powerwall 3
How long will a Tesla Powerwall 3 run a refrigerator?
About 9.4 days on its own, with no solar recharge, for a typical fridge using 1.4 kWh a day.
Can a Tesla Powerwall 3 run central air conditioning?
It can supply the roughly 3.5 kW a 3-ton unit draws, but at about 28 kWh on a hot day it would empty one unit in about half a day. Check its motor-start (surge) rating with your installer.
How many Tesla Powerwall 3 units do I need for whole-home backup?
Roughly 3 for a house with central AC and electric cooking, sized both for energy (a day of use) and for power (everything running at once). For essentials only, one is usually enough.
Can solar panels recharge a Tesla Powerwall 3 during a power outage?
Yes: its built-in inverter recharges it from your panels during an outage.
Compare with other batteries
| Battery | Usable kWh | kW | Essentials runtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| FranklinWH aPower 2 | 15 | 10 | 49 h |
| Enphase IQ Battery 5P | 5 | 3.84 | 16 h |
| SolarEdge Home Battery | 9.7 | 5 | 32 h |
| Generic 10 kWh home battery | 10 | 5 | 33 h |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra (1 battery) | 6.1 | 7.2 | 18 h |
| Anker SOLIX F3800 | 3.84 | 6 | 11 h |
| Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus | 2.04 | 3 | 6 h |
| EcoFlow DELTA 2 (1 kWh class) | 1.02 | 1.8 | 3 h |
Specifications are manufacturer figures as of September 2026. We are not paid by any manufacturer. Verify the current datasheet before you buy.