Teen Creates Tesla Powerwall Rival To Keep Houses Hit By Hurricanes Powered Up
When the power goes out, there are a few different options you can turn to. If you just want to keep your phones and laptops going while you ride it out, there are portable batteries you can buy that will keep you powered up. But if you want to keep your whole home up and running, that’s going to require a bigger device.
To that end there are two main categories — gas generators and whole-home backup batteries. Gas generators can be on the noisy side, so many homeowners prefer to stick to backup batteries. Last year, after hurricane season, one teenager in Palm Harbor Florida decided to make his own. Noah Bild, if you’ll pardon the pun, built his own backup battery for his home.
The Bild OffGrid Pro series is a Tesla Powerwall rival but checks in at under half the price. It has a 9,792Wh power capability and weighs in at 282 pounds. According to the inventor, it can power your refrigerator for two or three days by itself. That can keep food from spoiling and make for a far more comfortable outage.
The device has wheels built in for more portability
To be clear, you probably won’t be wheeling this out for family picnics (although you could), but if you need to bring it into the kitchen during an outage, that will make things a lot easier. The backup battery is on sale now for $3,995.
Will this work to power your home?
The Bild Off-Grid Pro is similar in many ways to products that are already out there, including the EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra that SlashGear reviewed a while back. EcoFlow has a new system available now called the Delta Pro Ultra X (DPUX) that has more capacity than the Bild OffGrid Pro but also costs more. One key advantage to the Delta Pro Ultra X is its expandability and ecosystem. As noted in our review, the Delta Pro Ultra can be added to a Smart Home Panel to switch your home over to battery power in milliseconds. It’s also expandable and stackable, meaning you can buy additional power cells for longer power.
Of course, the Bild OffGrid Pro is considerably less expensive — half the cost of the Delta Pro Ultra X and the Tesla Powerwall. Like the DPUX, the Bild has multiple power outputs and can be charged from the grid or with solar panels. If you have a home that regularly loses power, and you’re interested in a whole-home backup generator, this entrepreneurial teen just gave you another option to consider.
