Your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y Can Now Power Your Home in an Outage

1 day ago

2 min read

For years, using your car to power your house was something only a handful of trucks could do. That changed on October 6, 2026. Tesla turned on Powershare Home Backup for Model 3 and Model Y. Until now, only the Cybertruck could do it.

If you live in New Jersey and you drive (or are about to buy) a Model 3 or Model Y, here's what this means for you.

What Powershare does

Powershare lets your car's battery send power back into your home during an outage. When the grid goes down, your home keeps running on your Powerwall first, and your car can add more energy on top, so your backup lasts much longer.

Tesla says a Model 3 or Model Y can add up to about two days of backup for a home that uses around 30 kWh a day, starting from a 90% charge. The system can deliver up to 11.5 kW of continuous power.

What you need

To use Powershare with a Model 3 or Model Y, Tesla requires:

A Tesla Powerwall 3 at your home. Tesla says Powerwall 2 and Powerwall+ support is "coming soon."
A Tesla Wall Connector or Universal Wall Connector, which your car plugs into.
An eligible car. Tesla guarantees it on Model 3 and Model Y vehicles ordered on or after October 1, 2026. Some earlier cars can do it too, depending on the hardware they were built with.

If you already have a Powerwall 3 and a Wall Connector, you don't need extra equipment for a Model 3 or Model Y. You contact Tesla to have the feature turned on.

A few things to know:

It's for home backup, not for selling power back to the grid. With Model 3 and Model Y, you can't send power back to the utility.
It's available in the US.
Cybertruck owners have an extra option, the Powershare Gateway.

Why it matters for New Jersey homes

Storms, nor'easters and summer heat waves knock out power across North Jersey every year. A Powerwall 3 on its own keeps your essentials running. Pair it with the car already sitting in your driveway, and you get days of backup instead of hours, without a gas generator, fuel or noise.

Don't have a Powerwall yet?

That's where most homeowners are starting. Powershare runs through a Powerwall 3, so the first step is designing the right battery system for your home: what you want to keep running, your electrical panel, whether you have or want solar, and how you charge your car.

Every home is different, so we size and design the system with you during a free consult.