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Tesla has confirmed it will unveil a revolutionary power pack for the home tonight.

The California firm said it will announce a 'home battery' and a 'very large utility scale battery' in a letter sent to investors.

While products such as this already exist, founder Elon Musk thinks they 'suck', according to Tesla's investor relations director, Jeff Evanson.

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The California firm said it will announce a 'home battery' and a 'very large utility scale battery' in a letter sent to investors. The company already offers battery packs (pictured) for its SolarCity project, but it is unclear whether the latest product will build on this design

Musk announced the event last month in a cryptic tweet that said there will be a launch of a 'major' new line of products that is 'not a car'.

Musk and other Tesla officials have dropped a series of broad hints over the past month about the topic of the announcement, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. Pacific time Thursday at a Tesla facility near Los Angeles.  

'[At the event] we will explain the advantages of our solutions and why past battery options were not compelling,' the company said.

Home batteries power up overnight when electricity rates are cheaper. 

Users can then switch them on during the day to use the home during the day. 

In February, Musk said their version of a home battery would be ready for a public debut within months and that it should start going into production by the summer.

It is likely to build on the power packs used in Tesla's range of electric cars such as the Model S.

'We are going to unveil the Tesla home battery, the consumer battery that would be for use in people's houses or businesses fairly soon,' Mr Musk told analysts earlier this year.

'We have the design done, and it should start going into production in about six months or so.'

He didn't reveal what a home battery would be used for, but it could act as a generator during a power cut, for example.

While products such as these already exist, founder Elon Musk (left) thinks they 'suck', according to Tesla's investor relations director, Jeff Evanson. On the right is an image of a Tesla residential battery being installed

Tesla's billionaire founder last month fuelled speculation by saying it 'not a car' and added the product will be revealed at the company's California, Design Studio on April 30 at 8 p.m. PT

But at a conference last year, Tesla's Stationary Energy Storage Director Arch Padmanabhan revealed some of Tesla's initial plans.

This included a 400 kWh commercial/utility battery for large buildings and a 10 kilo-Watt hour residential battery.

Rival car manufacturer Toyota already uses a hydrogen fuel cell in its Mirai car that can be removed and used to power a home.

According to the Japanese car maker, the battery can supply electric power to an average home for a week.

Last year, Tesla Motors unveiled plans for a 'Gigafactory' designed to help the firm ramp up production of batteries for its electric cars, and now homes.

Tesla said the factory will cut current battery production costs by up to 30 per cent, and will be powered predominantly by renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.

Elsewhere, Mr Musk is already the chairman of SolarCity - a company that offers solar power systems for homes - and Tesla's home battery could be an extension of this.

These batteries 3ft tall (0.9 metres), and can be controlled remotely using a smartphone app. Tesla would not comment on whether the new batteries will work in the same way.

Home battery packs could disrupt the utility market. In 2013, the Edison Electric Institute, the trade group for investor-owned electric companies, issued a report warning about disruption.

Tesla reveals plans to build $5B 'gigafactory' in Nevada

'One can imagine a day when battery storage technology or micro turbines could allow customers to be electric grid independent,' the report said.

Deutsche Bank estimates sales of stationary battery storage systems for homes and commercial uses could yield as much as $4.5 billion in revenue for Tesla.

Analysts expect Tesla will build stationary storage systems around the same basic batteries it will produce for its vehicles at a large factory the company is building in Nevada.

Stationary storage systems could be part of a fossil-fuel free lifestyle in which an individual has solar panels on the roof, generating electricity that can power home appliances and recharge batteries in a Tesla Model S sedan parked in the garage.

Government subsidies and a dramatic drop in the price of lithium ion batteries are drawing more companies into the home electricity storage business.

Tesla has so far received $1.1 million from California's Self-Generation Incentive Program. Tesla has received or is poised to receive state funding for about 600 storage projects in California, according to data from the state.

Though valued at just $200 million in 2012, the energy storage industry is expected to grow to $19 billion by 2017, according to research firm IHS CERA.