A home battery is like a giant power bank for your house, and there are several reasons you might want one. Maybe you want to store excess power from your solar panels or guard against outages. Or maybe you want to truly pull the plug and go off-grid. For me, I wanted to buy power at my cheap overnight EV charging rate and use it during the day when it’s usually four times more expensive.
I had an EcoFlow PowerOcean home battery installed two months ago, and I’m mostly pleased with how it’s working, but I’ll share my experience and run through the pros and cons for you here, including how the math adds up in saving me money in the long run.
There are a few things to think about before you install a home battery. I have an in-depth guide to this in the works, so I’ll just quickly run through the basics here. You'll want to check your electricity usage over the last few years to help you figure out how much power you need. If you have solar panels or intend to get some, you need a hybrid inverter to convert the DC electricity produced by your solar panels into AC electricity you can use in your home. The inverter also manages when your home is powered by solar, battery, or the grid.
You may also need to upgrade your wiring and electrical panel and get permission from your local authority. In my case, here in Scotland, that meant asking my distribution network operator. The US equivalent is an electric distribution utility or local distribution company. They may have to upgrade your connection. I needed a new cut-out with a bigger fuse to handle my EV charging, battery, and air-source heat pump, but the upgrade was free. Your mileage may vary, and it can take a while to hear back. Your installer will likely handle this process for you.
You also need to choose an installer. I recommend shopping around, reading reviews, and getting multiple quotes. The Greener Energy Group installed my battery, and they were excellent. There was a site visit to discuss the work, and the installation was completed in a day. The installers need a suitable location for the battery (mine was installed in the garage, but they are weatherproof, so they can also be installed outside), and they must run cable to your main fuse board.
The EcoFlow PowerOcean system stood out because of its 15-year warranty, modularity (expandable to 45 kWh), stylish design, and accessible smartphone app. I went with a 6-kW hybrid inverter (thinking we may get solar panels down the line) and two 5-kWh batteries. With hindsight, I should have gone for three or four, but I’ll get into that later.
The EcoFlow PowerOcean sports a sleek gray metallic design, and it’s only 188 millimeters deep (around 7.5 inches). It’s pretty unobtrusive, but it’s better if you can tuck it away in a garage or basement because that will also help with operating temperatures, though the PowerOcean also has built-in heating to avoid reduced performance when it’s very cold.
Configuring my EcoFlow PowerOcean was a breeze. My current EV tariff (Intelligent Octopus Go) offers cheap electricity between 11:30 pm and 5:30 am, so I have the battery fill up during those hours, and it starts to discharge every morning at 5:31 am. We are a family of four, and I work from home.
Most days the battery lasts until between 4 and 6 pm. If everyone is at home or if I happen to be running a lot of power-hungry devices (electric shower, washing machine, dishwasher, oven, induction hob), the battery runs out in the early afternoon. I'd probably need an extra two batteries to make it through a full day without drawing from the grid.
It came with the EcoFlow PowerInsight, a 10-inch tablet for power monitoring and control, but I haven’t touched it since the first week. All of the functionality is accessible in the smartphone app, and the tablet itself is slow. My setup doesn’t require much tinkering, but the app shows me the discharge rate in real time and features various graphs showing our power usage. We are consistently getting around the stated 10 kWh—sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. There are settings to manage solar and export to the grid, but I’m not using them yet.
Aside from that, the operation has been plain sailing. It’s unobtrusive, very quiet (around 30 decibels), and has recovered just fine when turned off and on again for other electrical work and after a brief power cut.
When it comes to working out how much money the battery is saving me, I have a few complicating factors. I’ve only had the battery for two months, and I haven’t lived in this house long enough to do a direct comparison with the same month last year. I also had a new air-source heat pump installed a month ago, replacing a gas boiler for heating and hot water.
Just comparing the first month of the battery with the previous month, it cut my electricity bill in half. At that rate, it will take around six years to pay for itself. If you use an agile tariff, you can potentially have the app automatically charge up when electricity is at its lowest price, so there’s room to squeeze even more value from it. If you have solar panels and export to the grid, you can store and buy electricity when the price is low and sell high.
Because of the installation cost, it makes sense to snag more capacity upfront. My installation cost £6,500, and additional 5-kWh batteries are around £1,500. If you’re thinking about adding another battery yourself, the process is a little more involved than I realized. I was disappointed to learn that you must go through your installer, or you’ll void the warranty.
While EcoFlow doesn’t offer the PowerOcean in the US, it does offer the Ocean Pro system. The cost depends on your requirements and local installer, but for a similar capacity to mine, you’re likely looking at between $10,000 and $15,000. It’s also worth checking if there are any incentives or rebates available in your state.
Ultimately, I would recommend the EcoFlow PowerOcean if you’re looking for a home battery system, but go for the maximum capacity you can afford from the outset. While solar panels enable you to get the most from it, there is value to be had for folks with EV tariffs and other deals that allow you to buy cheap electricity during certain hours, though there’s no telling how long these tariffs will last. But beyond financial incentives, home batteries also help with grid balancing. Battery storage is a key part of any move toward renewables (solar and wind) that produce lots of power, but only at certain times.
Source: Wired
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