---
title: "Elon Musk Has Officially Started Shipping Tesla Powerpacks to Puerto Rico"
description: "By shipping Powerpacks to Puerto Rico, Tesla is enabling the island to restore electricity in the hospitals where it's most needed."
date: "2017-10-16"
modified: "2017-10-16"
authors:
  - name: "Brad Jones"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/bradj"
url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-has-officially-started-shipping-tesla-powerpacks-to-puerto-rico"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Tesla"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "powerpack"
  - "puerto rico"
  - "tesla"
---

# Elon Musk Has Officially Started Shipping Tesla Powerpacks to Puerto Rico

![Powerpacks to Puerto Rico](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/37363103802_e8e7b30d84_k.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/37363103802/in/photolist-YVDF3S-XTnHs5-XGD4GE-qPySNG-YTQgDb-9YeMb3-Za7ZLk-ZgcwJu-9YbPje-C6dCnA-YQw78m-DxCDmn-Yt9Axh-Y8YQsc-Z243Aq-BZhPjy-Z9q7MS-ZfiyTT-doWBrn-YUrpYJ-4w5aDg-r3qSRY-Yw4TSy-C2zKpy-BP3D9S-qWKia6-Y2LED1-Yctozz-9Zai81-Z9jXeu-9YbQ5r-Z1GDeA-5msH88-rxh2fP-qGKnMn-r3ry9C-eYncZn-5EnxPF-qKQQ1k-rv6dFd-hjjCK-rkbAD2-qKJgKw-qzivA9-qWHm7V-r3czuJ-qAzzaP-rr4GFL-re4BiP-r9zzpQ" target="\_blank"\>U.S. Navy/Flickr\</a\>\</em\>*

Elon Musk has made no secret of his ambition to help Puerto Rico regain power after the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. Previously, [Tesla](<https://www.tesla.com/>) had sent a few hundred [Powerwall battery packs to the island](<https://futurism.com/tesla-is-shipping-hundreds-of-powerwall-batteries-to-puerto-rico>), and now, Musk's company has officially started shipping Powerpacks to Puerto Rico as part of relief efforts.

With a capacity of 210 kWh, a [single Powerpack 2 battery](<https://futurism.com/an-australian-city-saved-1-5-million-by-installing-a-tesla-powerpack>) is equivalent to 16 Powerwall cells. The priority for this hardware is to supply hospitals and other medical centers with power so that staff can continue their work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr48Q1GRd08

Three weeks after the hurricane hit, less than 20 percent of the island has access to electricity, but even before the disaster, [Puerto Rico's power grid](<https://electrek.co/2017/10/15/tesla-powerpacks-puerto-rico/>) was in dire need of modernization. Musk wants to renew rather than just repair, and last week, he [met with the island's governor](<https://futurism.com/today-elon-musk-is-meeting-puerto-ricos-governor-to-fix-the-islands-energy-crisis>) to discuss what Tesla could do to improve its infrastructure.

By shipping these Powerpacks to Puerto Rico right now, Tesla is providing the island with a lifeline. Any major work on the power grid will take months, but this hardware should ensure that the most critical facilities can continue to operate in the interim.