EcoFlow Delta Ultra is more than a Powerwall on wheels, it goes off grid

Ecoflow announced the Delta Ultra today at CES, its monster 6kWh home LFP battery pack on wheels. Its 240V/30A= 7.2kW output can back up a home the way a whole home generator or Tesla Powerwall can. However, this thing has wheels and can be loaded into a vehicle to be transported to a campsite or a remote location. EcoFlow provided us with one last month and we’ve taken it to an off-grid tiny home which it kept powered, even in the cold of winter, for a whole weekend. Let’s have a deeper look…

This is the biggest battery pack I’ve ever reviewed by a long shot. I’ve tried tons of smaller battery packs (even e-bikes!) with 120V AC inverters that you can plug laptops and sometimes as much as refrigerators into for short periods of time. But the Ultra can back up the whole home. Until now, that was something reserved for Tesla Powerwall-grade equipment (which I have 2 sets) that comes via electricians or smelly, noisy gas generators.

The EcoFlow Delta Ultra spec sheet is super impressive for an off-the-shelf product:

• 6kWh of LFP power, 3500 cycles, safer for inside usage, 7.2kW peak output
• Weight: Battery 116 lbs + 70 lbs inverter = 186 lbs or 85 kg with wheels
• Wifi + Bluetooth enabled plus app for monitoring remotely. Even an optional 4G dongle
• Outlets galore including a 240V 30A generator plug and 120V 30A RV plug

Whole spec sheet follows:

The EcoFlow Delta Pro works seamlessly with a 60A Smart Home Panel which was too small for my home to try out. This is integrated into the app allowing remote management of circuits and 0ms cutover time in the event of a power outage.

Tiny House power

With, 14kW of Solar, a 200A breaker box with Tesla Powerwalls at my home, The EcoFlow Delta Ultra didn’t make sense as an additional home backup. However, a friend of mine has been using a rotation of batteries to rent an off-grid tiny house as an AirBNB. But these smaller batteries aren’t able to heat the home with a 240V heat pump. He either has to use a gas generator to power the heat pump, rely on a small wood stove, or stop accepting guests when it starts getting cold in the fall.

The Delta Pro with its 240V output and 6kwh of storage would likely be enough to heat the home for a weekend as well as run lights and entertainment for the weekend. The heat pump is quite efficient and while it requires almost 1.5kW to start up and heat the home within about 20 minutes, it only requires about 300W to keep the 200-square-foot tiny home warm throughout the weekend.

In practice, the Ultra worked as advertised in 40-degree weather, keeping the home at about 65 degrees and powering small appliances and entertainment. However, the LFP batteries likely suffered a bit with the lower temperature, still allowing the home to operate for 48 hours but using more of the battery than anticipated by about 5-10%. This could be remedied by moving the battery inside the warmer house.

The Ultra is very quiet, only kicking the fans on at the outset when the heat pump was firing up as well as the tiny refrigerator and load went over 2000W. Under 2000W, the fans turn off and it is completely silent.

The Ultra has a variety of inputs including solar options which may make sense for this tiny house going forward, making it a true off-grid solution. At about 3kWh/day, we figure about 1kW of solar is needed or about 3 economical roof panels. Five panels or about 1.6kW will allow for a bigger buffer and enough to start doing things like electric induction cooking (bye propane), and e-bike charging.

For now, he charges it at home on a 120V outlet which takes about 5 hours from empty. He delivers it ahead of the customers on Friday full and picks it up with a little remaining charge on Sunday evening.

For those people who own off-grid cabins, this could be the perfect product to take with them. And while at home, it can function as whole home backup power.

Electric Vehicle charger?

You can Level 2 charge an EV with this at 7.2kW and add 6kW of battery in about an hour, adding as much as 25 miles of range (depending on the vehicle). You can even do the reverse and charge it on an EV charger(!):

Availability

EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra will be available starting today Jan. 9 on the EcoFlow website and Amazon.com. On the EcoFlow website, users can purchase DELTA Pro Ultra (inverter and battery) for $4999, and the Smart Home Panel 2 is available for purchase at $1599, or as a bundled package with DELTA Pro Ultra for $6399 until February 9. After that period, the prices are $5799 for DELTA Pro Ultra, $1899 for Smart Home Panel 2, and $7499 for the DELTA Pro Ultra bundle.

Electrek’s take

EcoFlow’s Delta Ultra is a new breed of 240V portable batteries that will enable a new level of off-grid comfort where it hasn’t existed before. This is great for off-grid cottages, RVs, tiny homes, camping, and other applications. Adding solar makes this a one-stop shop. The wheels make it easier to move the 180-lb product from place to place.

I’m super impressed with how it performed out of the box quietly and reliably over the past month. The screen is very intuitive and it feels like EcoFlow has thought about everything here.

While I didn’t have an opportunity to try it, the smart breaker box and the stacking capabilities of this battery mean it can work with any sized home as both a battery backup and an off-grid solution. I think there’s a big opportunity here to also charge the battery at low-cost hours and use the batteries to power the home during high-cost times. Stay tuned for more from EcoFlow.