Fenix Power: A new third party battery replacement?

[Marktm]

Note - just read Lothsan's post! Agreed!

[DaveinOlyWA]

Actual power output of the units are very low (7-10 KW), meaning that they can't provide whole house backup

That's enough with a little load balancing (or a lot for an all-electric home).

Typical US homes have a 20-30A central AC. With a fridge and a few lights, that would exceed the capacity.

What do you mean by load balancing?

How old are you?

Back in the day, I remember when A/C was a luxury. In a power outage, that would be the first to go and yeah, in a Virginia Summer (complete with near 100% humidity) it really sucks but at least the food didn't go bad...

[Oilpan4]

When the power goes out not many people are thinking let's turn on the A/C, dry a load of laundry, cook a thankgiving turkey and charge the car.

7 to 10 kw is plenty for most people. But I do have a 30hp 18.5kw generator.

[Lothsahn]

How old are you?

Back in the day, I remember when A/C was a luxury. In a power outage, that would be the first to go and yeah, in a Virginia Summer (complete with near 100% humidity) it really sucks but at least the food didn't go bad...

I grew up in Michigan, and I seem to have almost no tolerance for heat. I get heat exhaustion super easily. Pipes would freeze before I would have problems in the winter, though...

[SageBrush]

How old are you?

Back in the day, I remember when A/C was a luxury. In a power outage, that would be the first to go and yeah, in a Virginia Summer (complete with near 100% humidity) it really sucks but at least the food didn't go bad...

I grew up in Michigan, and I seem to have almost no tolerance for heat. I get heat exhaustion super easily. Pipes would freeze before I would have problems in the winter, though...

That is my life too, and I spent my childhood in S. California. I had to migrate to the mountains to survive

[Lothsahn]

That is my life too, and I spent my childhood in S. California. I had to migrate to the mountains to survive

So jealous. I would move in a heartbeat, but family keeps me here, at least for now.

[JohnBysinger]

Has anyone searched the address given on Fenix website on google maps? I got The UPS Store when I searched it.

Yes, we are currently using a PO Box at a UPS store as a method to retain an address that's stable while we grow here in Charlotte. We chose UPS over the traditional post office PO Box as they offer more digital notification and package handling services than the post office. They also have 24 hour keycard access that's quite handy for us as well. We expect to use that address through the next year or so as we grow and our office and manufacturing needs grow with us.

-John Bysinger
CEO of Fenix Power

[JohnBysinger]

1) Still not marketed well. Very hard to find information and qualified installers
2) Volume is low and price is high
3) Actual power output of the units are very low (7-10 KW), meaning that they can't provide whole house backup
4) Many units only do V2G and not V2Backup.
5) Most US residences don't have Time Of Use metering, which means that time shifting loads has zero impact on energy billing
6) How V2G coordinates with existing solar & battery backup units (SolarEdge, Enphase, etc) is quite unclear. I could find no information or qualified installers that know anything about V2G, let alone how to hook them up to a house to create a whole house backup solution.

You covered that pretty darn well Lothsahn, if I may I have one more point to add to your list:

Local power regulations are extremely challenging, both for battery and for solar installations. They vary wildly across states, counties and cities around the country. While they are likely well intentioned when they were created, they can become obstacles to many new energy technologies coming to market such as V2x and battery storage. For example, in Florida the laws state that if the grid goes down, any grid-tied solar must also be disabled. This makes quite a bit of sense for the safety of the utility workers trying to restore power after storms, but it's quite counter-productive for emergency power purposes! Having solar paired with home storage is a wonderful solution for a homeowner facing storm-caused common grid outages, but useless if it must be shut off when the power is out. In theory, these are just speedbumps as we progress to smarter grid technologies and will get updated over time. But those updates will move at the speed of government... which may take a while!

[JohnBysinger]

That's enough with a little load balancing (or a lot for an all-electric home).

Typical US homes have a 20-30A central AC. With a fridge and a few lights, that would exceed the capacity.

What do you mean by load balancing?

How old are you?

Back in the day, I remember when A/C was a luxury. In a power outage, that would be the first to go and yeah, in a Virginia Summer (complete with near 100% humidity) it really sucks but at least the food didn't go bad...

Dave, as a fellow (but now former!) resident of the Pacific NorthWest, I know all too well how uncommon home AC is around there. We used window units when we lived there, though I remember discussing full home units with a friend a couple years back. He was a Seattle native, but lived in Texas for about a decade before returning back to the PNW. When he decided to have a whole house unit installed in the late 90's, he said it was a real challenge to do, most of the contractors weren't familiar with the hardware, the house wasn't designed to be plumbed to the outside heat exchanger, etc. In the 90's I was in a Condo in Bellevue that had AC, it was a popular visiting spot for friends of mine on those rare summer days in the 90's up there!

[UBUYGAS]

I put down a deposit and think it's a great idea for the right price to keep a bunch of useful old Leaf out of the junkyard. I don't expect to get my deposit back but I'd like to if I decide to go a different route. It was cheap enough that I was willing to take that risk.

There's two things that'll make or break this for me.

• When does this actually get to market. I have a window where I'm looking to upgrade which is next fall/winter.
• How cheap do the gen2 Leaf get? I'm seeing 2018 SV with the cold weather package advertised at $30k in VA right now before incentives. Meaning I can likely negotiate one for under $30k OTD. That's getting real close to the point (maybe already there) where it'd make more sense to sell the 2015 for $10k - $11k and buy a 2018. I'd get newer tech, a better looking car, and an 8 year battery warranty for roughly the same price as 8 years of a Fenix battery service plan at $80 - $100/month or a $6500 Fenix replacement battery + $30/month service plan.

Time will tell... Thanks for keeping us updated as best you can John.

You can get your deposit back if you need to pull out. They say on their website that it's completely refundable.

They have told me that mine should be installed end of 2019.