Anker is launching a massive battery system that can power an entire home.
The battery company, which has primarily focused on portable batteries for smaller products, announced its new Solix X1 system, which could rival Tesla's Powerwall for residential energy storage.
CleanTechnica reports that the product is remarkably flexible, allowing customers to choose from capacities between five kilowatt-hours (kWh) and 180 kWh, thanks to a modular pack system. That modular system also means that if one or two pieces fail, the others can still work unaffected, which means the system is quite resilient to potential outages or problems within individual battery cells.
Its rated output power is 3 kW to 36 kW, which CleanTechnica noted is much more than most houses will need.
Additionally, unlike other home energy storage systems, new batteries can be slotted into the Solix X1 system indefinitely without replacing the entire system when old batteries are depleted or inefficient.
And like all electric power storage systems, the Solix X1 is specifically designed to help homeowners save tons of money on their electric bills via a time-of-use mode. This allows the battery to charge during hours when power is cheaper and then tap into its reserves to avoid using the grid during more expensive hours.
When there's a grid outage, the system immediately detects the issue and rapidly switches the home back to battery power within 20 milliseconds. The system can also endure temperatures between -4 degrees and 131 degrees Fahrenheit.
Home battery packs like the Solix X1 allow residents to save money on electricity while storing clean energy generated by solar panels — so it's no wonder that comparable systems are becoming more popular.
Tesla's Powerwall has sold over 500,000 units, as of last July, and countries such as Australia are offering rebates to make it more accessible for homeowners. Additionally, a recent webinar showed off new specs that will let customers stack multiple units together for even better efficiency and storage.
In addition to providing cheaper energy for homeowners, electric battery storage systems help reduce the planet-warming pollution generated by traditional power sources — such as oil and gas — ushering in a cleaner, safer future.
CleanTechnica users reacted to the Anker product in the comment section.
"It appears to offer the same as pretty much every other home battery, so price is key," one user wrote. "With home batteries way more expensive than the cell cost, a big price reduction is due, when competition heats up."
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