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> Very few of the people that would currently benefit from a domestic backup battery could afford $2k California, a state of 40 million people, would disagree

> Very few of the people that would currently benefit from a domestic backup battery could afford $2k California, a state of 40 million people, would disagree with you ;) Not just referencing the blackouts we had last summer: CA also is heavily invested in solar power, and as a result, power is much cheaper during the day than at night (assuming you opt into time of use pricing). A battery for $2k would pay for itself in California quickly, because you can charge it when power is cheap during the day and run off battery when power is expensive at night. Plenty of other US states have had blackouts as well; my parents in PA now own a generator due to repeated blackouts last year. If they could have bought a battery for $2k, they probably would have: generators are loud and dirty. And Texans certainly had a bad time with blackouts recently as well.

justinator 5y ago
> California, a state of 40 million people, would disagree with you ;) How explode-y is this battery? I hear California also has this problem with forest fires and it seems a fire and giant batteries all over the place would be two flavors that do not go well with each other.
- adgjlsfhk1 5y ago
  Probably less explody than a propane tank. Turns out that pretty much any form of energy storage can release a bunch of energy in a short time if pushed hard enough.
  - oblio 5y ago
    I was thinking the same thing until someone pointed out that lard stores a ton of energy but you can't really make it explode. I hope.
    - branko_d 5y ago
      But you can make it burn! https://madison.com/wsj/huge-grease-fire-was-a-hot-mess/article_acfce336-15d1-11e0-ba15-001cc4c002e0.html https://madison.com/wsj/huge-grease-fire-was-a-hot-mess/arti... > With so much oil-rich food on hand, including lard, cheese and more than 10 million pounds of surplus butter stored by the federal government, the fire was a hot mess — fast-moving, destructive and difficult to put out.
    - ben_w 5y ago
      Now I want to know if someone has made a butter-fuelled hybrid rocket, and not why not.
- mgoetzke 5y ago
  Home Storage is typically LFP (LiFePO4) nowadays. And those are hard to ignite.
ben_w 5y ago
> A battery for $2k would pay for itself in California quickly Anyone who can find a spare $2k can buy one and quickly find they now have more than $2k spare, but you’d be amazed how many people, even in a rich part of the world like CA, don’t have as much spare cash as the average developer. https://samvimesbootstheory.com/ https://samvimesbootstheory.com/ Like I said, “not zero, but…”
- zizee 5y ago
  This is such an unrealistically pessimistic assessment. You just need to count the number of rooftop solar installations there are in the world to get an idea of the market size. Another $2k investment to get significantly more value out of an existing multithousand outlay would be a no brainer for most of them.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    I’m not saying nobody will value them ever under any circumstances, I’m replying to someone saying “Who wouldn't get one?” with “you’d be surprised…” Mainly I’m expecting grid-corrected batteries of this type to be owned and operated by power companies and governments rather than by individual home owners; and most privately owned batteries to be the ones in cars rather than permanently attached to houses.

justinator 5y ago

> California, a state of 40 million people, would disagree with you ;) How explode-y is this battery? I hear California also has this problem with forest fires and it seems a fire and giant batteries all over the place would be two flavors that do not go well with each other.

adgjlsfhk1 5y ago
Probably less explody than a propane tank. Turns out that pretty much any form of energy storage can release a bunch of energy in a short time if pushed hard enough.
- oblio 5y ago
  I was thinking the same thing until someone pointed out that lard stores a ton of energy but you can't really make it explode. I hope.
  - branko_d 5y ago
    But you can make it burn! https://madison.com/wsj/huge-grease-fire-was-a-hot-mess/article_acfce336-15d1-11e0-ba15-001cc4c002e0.html https://madison.com/wsj/huge-grease-fire-was-a-hot-mess/arti... > With so much oil-rich food on hand, including lard, cheese and more than 10 million pounds of surplus butter stored by the federal government, the fire was a hot mess — fast-moving, destructive and difficult to put out.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    Now I want to know if someone has made a butter-fuelled hybrid rocket, and not why not.
mgoetzke 5y ago
Home Storage is typically LFP (LiFePO4) nowadays. And those are hard to ignite.

ben_w 5y ago

> A battery for $2k would pay for itself in California quickly Anyone who can find a spare $2k can buy one and quickly find they now have more than $2k spare, but you’d be amazed how many people, even in a rich part of the world like CA, don’t have as much spare cash as the average developer. https://samvimesbootstheory.com/ https://samvimesbootstheory.com/ Like I said, “not zero, but…”

zizee 5y ago
This is such an unrealistically pessimistic assessment. You just need to count the number of rooftop solar installations there are in the world to get an idea of the market size. Another $2k investment to get significantly more value out of an existing multithousand outlay would be a no brainer for most of them.
- ben_w 5y ago
  I’m not saying nobody will value them ever under any circumstances, I’m replying to someone saying “Who wouldn't get one?” with “you’d be surprised…” Mainly I’m expecting grid-corrected batteries of this type to be owned and operated by power companies and governments rather than by individual home owners; and most privately owned batteries to be the ones in cars rather than permanently attached to houses.