Are we being serious? I have an electric water heater. I have an induction cooktop, which is electric by necessity. I have an electric clothes dryer. (Is there even a consumer-grade gas-fired clothes dryer on the market?) The consumer experience is fine. I turn on the hot water tap and hot water comes out. What am I missing?
https://www.mixergy.co.uk/products/mixergy-tank/
Has both stupid innovation (Alexa integration) and sensible (working with the grid to balance demand, innovative design that saves energy and heats up faster when you need it quickly)
The opportunity to reduce carbon emissions is pretty massive when done at scale, because water heating accounts for 25% of home energy use in California.
In general, there is a big rush of companies, both startups and established, into the DER space right now, I suspect because of both the relatively low cost of entry and the high value of the grid services (frequency regulation, peak load avoidance) they are usually bidding on.
Traditionally water heaters were only on at night.
https://www.amazon.com/Cash-Acme-Thermostatic-Temperature-Ap...
That's a very low tech solution that could take some advantage, and thermal mass of water is pretty high, especially if the tank is well insulated.