Solar & plug-in batteries
Plug-in ready solar batteries compared on usable capacity, power output, warranty and price per kWh.
Plug-in ready batteries: self-contained boxes of two to ten kilowatt hours, each with an inverter of its own, that are added to a house without redesigning what is already there. Some take solar panels directly; others only charge from the grid and from a system you already have. The fitted batteries that replace a solar inverter and are designed in alongside the panels are a different thing, and are not listed here. Whatever the output on the box, none of these gives more than 800 W in Britain until an electrician has wired it in and notified the network operator.
Anker SOLIX
Solarbank 4 E5000 Pro
- Best weather protection
Five kilowatt hours, 5 kW of solar across four trackers and an IP66 body, stackable to 30 kWh. The most storag...
from £1,699 solar battery only, installation extra
DJI
Power 2000
- Most ports
A portable power station rather than a fixed home battery: it sits on the floor, runs off its own sockets and...
from £1,099 solar battery only, installation extra
EcoFlow
STREAM
- Cheapest
The 1.92 kWh STREAM, in three forms that differ only in how much panel each will take. The dearest takes the m...
from £699 solar battery only, installation extra
EcoFlow
STREAM 5000
- Best UPS
Five kilowatt hours in a floor-standing tower, in two forms: one with a solar inverter built in, one for a hou...
from £1,499 solar battery only, installation extra
EcoFlow
STREAM AC Pro
- Cheapest
Battery and nothing else: no solar inputs at all. It bolts onto a STREAM that has them, or AC couples to a plu...
from £699 solar battery only, installation extra
EcoFlow
STREAM Ultra X
The big battery in the plug-in STREAM range: 3.84 kWh and four solar inputs, in a box one person can move. Cap...
from £1,299 solar battery only, installation extra
Jackery
SolarVault 3
2.52 kWh a unit and four MPPTs, stackable to 15.12 kWh. Maplin and Amazon sell the two Max versions here; Jack...
2 versions
Marstek
Venus E
AC coupled, in three sizes. It takes no panels of its own: it charges from the grid and from a solar system yo...
from £999 solar battery only, installation extra
Zendure
SolarFlow 2400 AC+
The 2400 Pro with the solar inputs taken out, and £200 cheaper for it. For a house that already has an inverte...
from £899 solar battery only, installation extra
Zendure
SolarFlow 2400 Pro
A small battery with a big inverter: 2.4 kWh, but 2,400 W out of it once it is wired in, and G98 certified so...
from £1,099 solar battery only, installation extra
