The residential battery market is getting more uniform — capacities are generally the same, we’re mostly working with lithium-iron phosphate chemistries, and everyone worthwhile has a cool app. So this week at the RE+ tradeshow, I was on the hunt for anything that stood out and was more than just a sleek, gray box. I was happy to find a few companies standing out from the crowd.
Anker Solix X1
Anker Solix started in the portable power market and is now focusing more of its attention on standalone storage. As largely a consumer brand, Anker has been developing partnerships with solar and storage installers to get established in the industry. The cool thing about the company’s X1 energy storage system, besides its stackable 5-kWh battery modules and boosted temperature resiliency, is its attention to design. The system is a slim 6 in. thick, and it’s control panel changes color based on which mode it’s operating. Off-grid mode glows blue; on-grid showed white. It’s a small element, but it leaves an impression on system owners wanting to visually see how their battery is working at any one time.
FranklinWH aPower 2
OK, it’s a white box, but FranklinWH’s updated aPower battery system has some great tech inside. Instead of offering stackable 3- or 5-kWh battery modules, the aPower 2 boasts 15 kWh of capacity all in one go. This system was designed with installer input, and enclosure knockouts were moved around for easier installation. Two aPowers can be connected to FranklinWH’s management system aGate via a quad breaker, eliminating the need for a combiner box. The battery uses fan-less convection, so it’s a quieter device. And FranklinWH now offers a warranty of 15 years or 60-MWh throughput — which is well beyond the industry standard 10,000 cycles.
Briggs & Stratton SimpliPHI 6.6
Briggs & Stratton acquired energy storage system maker SimpliPhi Power in 2021 and has (thankfully) kept the SimpliPhi name while improving the LFP battery’s dependable design. One of the original “stackable” systems, the updated SimpliPHI 6.6 keeps that scalability while also continuing to be inverter agnostic. Installers can use any inverter brand they trust and are most comfortable with; Briggs & Stratton knows its strength is the battery tech. The batteries themselves click into place on top of each other, removing the need for manually connecting wires or switches inside, which means the SimpliPHI 6.6 system can be installed in less than 5 minutes. A real installer’s dream.