<div></div> The cost of solar power has fallen by 87%, and battery storage by 85% in the past decade, according to a new study – here’s why. more… The post Solar and battery storage prices have dropped almost 90% in 10 years appeared first on Electrek.
So why isn’t installing solar cheaper than when I got it quoted 5 years ago…
Labor or increased demand, maybe?
Both. Solar installs are very popular right now.
Regarding battery storage specifically…
EVs have greater battery capacity than most solar batteries.
Additionally, EVs are making strides to making V2G and V2H technology mainstream. (Vehicle to grid and home respectively)
With that in mind, how viable would it be to, instead of selling an EV that’s served its primary purpose, have it enter a second life as a solar battery?
I’ve attempted to research this topic, but have not found much useful information. Current EVs are designed to absorb energy from the grid, not return it.
Keeping the car in your garage to act as a battery would be a bit excessive. Ultimately the value proposition isn’t there - even with worn batteries, the car is worth more than just the cost of a new battery.
Repurposing the cells for this purpose is exactly the idea behind the power wall though.
Nobody’s stopping you. Batteryhookup.com
People do aftermarket EV batteries to home batteries, but what I’d like to see, is the OEM providing a second life conversion rather than a 3rd party conversion.
The battery itself has no problem giving or taking power it just needs the right hookups. Take the battery out, put it into a home battery shell made specifically for your car and instant huge home battery that’ll last a week or longer.
I doubt any OEM wants to provide the conversion though as they want you to buy their own home battery systems. Tesla isn’t the only one doing that today, and I suspect that all EV auto manufacturers will move into the home storage game as they get more experience with batteries and need a way to derisk the car business.
Having another use for their batteries (home/commercial) gives them room to buy more cells for less and then favor either business as market conditions dictate (e.g teala favoring cars over home storage when cells were in short supply)
Teslas plan for the 4680 packs is to just recycle them at end of car life but that’s just a waste. Reuse before recycle!
Also, the LFP batteries are perfect for this. They’ll outlive a cars useful life unless it’s maybe a commercial taxi kind of situation. Those things have crazy cycle counts.
