Grid batteries in the home aren't a big thing yet. But will they ever
be? Will it seem like everyone has a battery in their house?
It's hard to say. If batteries get so powerful and so inexpensive that
used, but still useful ones, are put on the side of the road with a
"free" sign on them... I tend to think just about everyone would get one
just on principle.
But short of that kind of price point, I tend to think only a minority
of households will sport a backup battery even at the lower prices we
expect batteries to be at in the coming years. The reason for this is
that most people would prefer the kind of peace of mind that comes with a
battery back-up as a service rather than handle it themselves. It all
comes down to cost.
No matter how inexpensive batteries get, the utilities will always have
the advantage in scale and transfer equipment. By transfer equipment,
I'm talking about the chargers, inverters, and switches. Since their
cost-per-house will be less expensive for these parts, they will be able
to sell the battery backup service at such a reasonable rate that a
majority won't go to the trouble of buying a battery and wiring their
house for battery backup.
Let's say we achieve batteries that get 5 times more capacity and 5
times less cost than our current cells. Compared to the number of people
that have a generator now, how many would get a home-battery? At those
prices, I imagine a lot more. But relative to all households, not many
have a generator now.
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