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Comment by mrfusion | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if they should also market this to the whole house backup generator market? Those run 2,000-4,000 $ at least, I think.

I'd imagine a lot of houses would pay $1500 for a battery to operate their whole house during an outage.

Another product I'd like to see is a plug in battery to operate the sump pump for a few hours during an outage? Apparently a UPS can't handle the high load, and the battery backup ones you make require an expensive plumbing visit to install the special DC powered pump.

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How long will that $1,500 battery power my house? It's still not possible to beat hydrocarbons in terms of energy density, and if you are looking to weather a multi-day outage, it's energy density you care about...

The added reliability should be a plus. And convenience in not having to keep it fueled up. Also you can use these in places where there's not enough ventilation to run a generator, and it's quieter.

It would be interesting to see the market statistics for installed generators. I bet propane and natural gas have a lot more of that market than gasoline and diesel.

(for homes with nat gas it's a no brainer)

Using a Tesla S battery as a baseline, it gives you 85KWh at $30,000, or 2.83KWh per $1000.

$1500 would give you 4.25KWh. The average home averages 1KW, so you'll have 4.25 hours.

Obviously you could get more efficiency with a stationary battery.

Or a generator and a few dozen pounds of LP...

Further, when the power goes out you limit your consumption. With a connected home, running on battery power could widen the acceptable temperature range, run only one bulb in a multi-bulb array, or even disconnect certain outlets in a home.

Even cutting to 80%, you get an extra hour. 50%, and you've got 4. I am having a hard time finding refrigerator specifics, but around 1000KWh annually seems to be on the high side. This gives you 1.5 days on the 4.25KWh battery.

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