Company designs 3D-printed, Tesla-powered homes costing $250k

The tech elites are getting a small community of their own with tiny 3D-printed houses that are run by Tesla batteries and cost just a bit too much.

The Monterey Peninsula, about an hour south of Silicon Valley, was providing a community for tech elites, called Walden Monterey and founded in 2016 by developer Nick Jekogian. Now, he is expanding it to develop the ‘Galini Sleeping Pods’, tiny expensive 3D-printed homes.

Jekogian turned the 609-acre land into a coastal ‘agrihood’ community, a rising millennial trend where they embrace agriculture neighborhood focusing on nature, farms and outdoor living, where he also invited guests to come and stay before buying the expensive $5 million movable glass houses, wrote Business Insider.

Walden Monterey approached design studio DFA for designing houses for potential buyers to stay in while they consider their purchase decisions. These 3D-printed self-sustaining houses are called Galini Sleeping Pods and are 300-sq ft in size. These houses are powered by solar panels, Tesla batteries, and wind turbines and can be moved anywhere. However, this all comes with a hefty price tag of about $250,000 each.

These pods take about four to six week to construct. The 3D-printed skin of the pod is a strong shell made from carbon-fiber and a recycled aluminum base that holds them off the ground. Fitting with sustainable living, the pods are 97% material efficient with only 3% materials goes to waste. Even the wood paneling inside, recycled plastic used in constructions, LED lighting, mechanical systems and plumbing, all are efficient with having no impact on the environment.

There is a compression system that works to draw water in form of atmosphere for the water supply. With a ventilation system underneath the pod, the place can be heated or cooled when needed.

Laith Sayigh, founder of DFA said that these pods will represent ‘the next generation of construction technology’. He aims to extend the technology past the Silicon Valley community.