CROWDFUNDING NEWS – When someone says “cut the cord”, it probably makes you think about ditching your cable or satellite entertainment provider. When BLUETTI says “cut the cord”, they are talking about electricity and the grid. When their soon to be released Bluetti EP500 and EP500 Pro power stations, you’ll have the power (see what I did there) to do just that.
The BLUETTI EP500 and EP500 Pro power stations aren’t small table-top sized backup batteries for your phone and other gadgets like the Maxoak BLUETTI AC50S Power Bank. The EP500 is a unit about the size of a piece of rolling luggage and features a huge 5100Wh capacity and wheels so that you can easily move it from place to place. The BLUETTI EP500 is designed to be a” no installation needed”, plug and play product that can easily be moved to the desired location when needed.
More specs include:
- Rated 2000Watt AC output, surge 4800Watt
- Battery Cell Type: LiFePO4 (with 6000 charge cycles to 80%)
- Ways to Recharge: Wall AC Outlet/ Solar power/ Car cigarette port/ Lead-acid battery/Gas-fired Generator
- Solar input: Up to 1200W @ 70-145V With MPPT, fully recharged in as short as 4Hrs
*Support Solar+AC (1800W max.) recharge simultaneously, can be fully recharged in 3Hrs - Support UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), can be integrated into your home circuit seamlessly and run your appliances during power outages for DAYS.
I know how important electricity is due to numerous occasions when our power went out for days at a time during summer months causing us to lose everything in our refrigerator. We invested in a whole home generator 10 years ago that gets fuel from a buried LP gas tank and is hooked into my home’s wiring so that it automatically turns on and powers the whole house within seconds of the power going out. This setup was several thousand $’s to buy and install by an electrician. The BLUETTI EP500 power station looks like an easier solution for people who want a more portable and feature-rich power station. I wish my generator could use solar power like the EP500. I think that feature sounds awesome.
How long can a person power their devices with this unit and what is their after-sales service like?
According to official information released, the EP500 is shipped with BLUETTI’s exclusive customized, long life LiFePO4 battery cells. The self-developed battery management system including the battery pack has a maximum 6000+ charge cycles. According to the average household electricity consumption of 3kWh per day, the BLUETTI EP500 can achieve up to 40 years of theoretical service life without using any grid energy! In addition, BLUETTI also provides a 5-year warranty and lifetime technical support for this unit.
Now for some bad news, the BLUETTI EP500 power station isn’t available for purchase yet. But, if you are interested, you’ll be able to pre-order one starting at 6:00 AM PDT, March 15th on Kickstarter. You’ll need to start saving your pennies and nickels though because it is estimated that the price for the super early bird perks for this product will be less than $3000. If you want to get the link to the crowdfunding campaign as soon as possible, head over to their EP500 product info page.
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“Solar input: Up to 1200W @ 70-145V With MPPT, fully recharged in as short as 4Hrs”
Yes, but…
The 5.5 foot long Bluetti solar array is 120W and costs $400. You would need 10 of them to recharge this device at 1200W in 4 hours (I guess 1 would do, if you get 40 hours a day of continuous sunlight). So add another $4000 to the cost, and 100 pounds to the weight.
Obviously for home backup use, you don’t need to pay a premium for portable suitcase solar panels. You can purchase 6 100W (or 200W) panels from Rich Solar and make your own grid in the backyard or on the roof.
These batteries are getting fast enough and being used in van builds, that they should add to them DC Fast Charging (CCS) ports, so you can recharge them in under an hour. At a minimum add 7kW J1772 DC charging ports.
Yes, but obviously for home backup use you also don’t need to pay a premium for a portable suitcase battery system, you can get a non-mobile one with your solar roof install.
“…can be integrated into your home circuit…”
That comment needs some qualification and the method of integration carefully explained. Simply plugging an AC generator into home power circuitry without careful provision to make sure the power is not backfed to the grid is not only dangerous to line repair people, but a crime virtually everywhere. Should a worker be injured or killed because a unit like this is carelessly “plugged into” house power circuitry the homeowner is in turn due for a world of hurt.
Reporter, make sure you understand the consequences of “features” you list in articles.
Prospective buyers, consult a competent electrician before connecting any AC generator to your house wiring.
Of course anyone doing major electrical should have competent people involved. Expecting engineering competence from a journalist, that is not flying either. Obviously you could set up the EP500 lots of ways as it is a true Ups system and does pass through too. So plug in the appliance directly and then the ep to the wall, no electrician needed. But if you want to separate some circuits and have a shut off or direct ups set up then of course grab an electrician to support. Also, faster charging, the system has to support it and this requires special circuitry and thermal feedback too, so not easy either. Grab 6 renogy 175 flexible panels at 2K or solid ones at 1.5k and charge in 4 to 5 hours plus plug it in and charge in 2. What’s the problem? BTW the cost of the batteries alone in this u it are more than the indie cost of the entire unit with mppt, inverter, safety circuitry, controller, etc. That’s the real story seems like everyone missed.
Ofcourse the story is all those expensive singular units that require to be wired up separately are now rendered obsolete buy two of these units connect them together and run 220v handling the largest home appliances, even Hvac and electric dryers! 10,000 Wh, 2000 watts of solar feed and you are pretty close to off grid 100% for under $12k range. Half the cost of the current stuff and 1/3 of an equivalent capable system of 5 years ago.
I have the 2000Wh system running my van on 1200 watts of solar. Flawless and simple.