Brothers behind Planetpod deliver their first home battery: 'Why did they have to be so ugly?'
By: Philip Beuters
Another home battery? Yes: brothers Roel and Maurice van der Ende come up with the Planetpod, which should distinguish itself from the crowd with its striking design and integrated software. The first is now running for a private customer. "We are the first in the Netherlands to do this this way."
Nowadays, anyone in the market for a home battery has plenty of choice: from models with different capacities, from brands that only supply the hardware or providers that supply a smart battery in combination with software that ensures that the device acts 'itself' on the electricity market.
Planet pod different from the gray matter
Now the Planetpod has been added, a home battery with a capacity of 8.2 kilowatt hours that looks quite different from the white/gray mass. Compact, glossy black and gray, a touch screen and round shapes: the design language is derived from that of smartphones and Bluetooth speakers.
The software has also been well thought out. There is an app with many options and the Planetpod promises to adapt to the power needs of its owner. It almost goes without saying that the newcomer also trades in energy if its owner has a dynamic energy contract. For example, the Planetpod supplies excess solar energy when prices are high, or stores electricity when it is available. 'Store your solar energy so you can use it day and night. The home battery automatically sells what energy you have left over at a profit!', the makers say on their site.
Founders previously started Mountox
Entrepreneurs Roel and Maurice van der Ende started working on the Planetpod two years ago, which should be launched on the market halfway through next year. This week the first prototype was installed at a customer, so development is on schedule. And the first 230 copies have already been pre-ordered, for a deposit of 150 euros. With a price of 5,590 euros excluding VAT, these orders already represent more than a million in turnover, the brothers say.
They started their first company, Mountox, in 2018, with which they responded to the then burgeoning market for electric cars. Maurice: "There were very few of these around at the time, and there was a need for information about the possibilities."
Common thread between EVs and home batteries
In recent years, comparison site Mountox has grown into a place where you can compare cars and lease contracts, but also order charging cards and charging stations. Everything according to the affiliate model familiar in e-commerce: Mountox receives compensation for the customers it refers through its platform. "That's going very well, with more than a million visits in total," says Van der Ende. "But nowadays we focus more than full-time on Planetpod. We are looking at whether we can transfer Mountox to another party."
The common thread between electric cars and home batteries is that they both contribute to the energy transition, but the step from e-commerce to hardware manufacturer is still a significant one. It partly has to do with the fact that Roel van der Ende graduated as a mechanical engineer before he started entrepreneurship. The affinity with technology was already there. Moreover, the brothers are no strangers to entrepreneurship: their father has a company in solar installations. "Sustainability was also something we were taught at an early age."
Dutch solar panel champion
"We saw that the Netherlands is the champion of solar panels, but we noticed that so few home batteries are used here. Up to and including last year, an estimated 5,000 have been sold, and another 5,000 are expected to be added in 2024. If you know that There are 2.6 million households with solar panels, which is a drop in the bucket. In Belgium, 50,000 home batteries were sold last year and in Germany half of all buyers of solar panels purchased an additional battery ."
Well, that's comparing apples and oranges, because the Netherlands still has the feed-in tariff until 2027, which ensures that the excess power from solar panels still yields something. But that arrangement is finite, while energy companies introduce 'fines' for feeding back. Sooner or later, purchasing a home battery will become a no-brainer for those who own solar panels. The Van der Endes became convinced of this.
Home battery specifically for a Dutch home
"If you do nothing with the solar power that you do not use yourself, you throw away 70 percent. We decided to take the plunge and design a home battery ourselves, specifically for the Dutch market, from the ground up. One that is real made for the attic or storage spaces of a typical Dutch house. Roel can now fully enjoy himself as an engineer."
Maurice himself focuses more on the online marketing side of Planetpod and the interaction with users in a broader sense. "The big challenge with technology, including this: how do you make something simple and understandable for the consumer? "It helps that the Planetpod looks nice. "We thought: you pay a fair amount, why do those home batteries have to be so ugly? We wanted to make something beautiful that you can be a little proud of."
Plug and play
The Planetpod is also plug-and-play (a technician should be able to install it in a maximum of 3 hours) and the software is easy to use. "With a display that shows exactly what the battery is doing. That only works if you hold hardware and software in one hand. In that respect, we compare ourselves with Apple. We are still the first party to do this in the Netherlands. do."
The software uses – not surprisingly – AI to determine the optimal timing of storing and releasing energy based on the weather forecast, the amount of sun, electricity prices and estimated home consumption. "This results in a charging schedule for the coming days. If the Planetpod realizes that you are going to cook every day at 5 p.m., it takes this into account. And you can also include your electric car in the power management."
Stand 'cash mode'
The user can opt for an 'off-grid' setting, where as much of the generated solar power as possible is used for their own use. Or just for 'cash fashion'. The Planetpod then achieves the maximum financial benefit on the electricity market from collecting and releasing electricity.
The last has not yet been said about the financial advantage of the home battery. Does such a device costing thousands of euros pay for itself? Energy research agency CE Delft calculated not so long ago that this is only possible under certain conditions. The owner will have to combine it with solar panels and trade on the power exchange. Even then, that is not enough to recoup the investment before the end of its lifespan.
Trading on the imbalance market
Trading on the imbalance market still offers a good option for this, but that is something that private individuals cannot easily do. Imbalance is the mismatch between supply and demand on the energy market that arises because more and more energy is produced from sun and wind. There are service providers who restore the balance by purchasing or supplying energy, but they only do business with companies. As a private individual, you must find a party that bundles the energy supply of small producers and trades with it on the imbalance market.
Some Planetpod competitors already offer this imbalance trading with their home battery, in collaboration with an energy company. The Van der Ende brothers promise to arrange this too, but want to leave their customers free to choose their own energy company. "We are discussing this with various parties. Because that independence is precisely the beauty of generating your own energy."
Focusing blindly on payback time
It remains to be seen how the rates on the imbalance market will develop in the coming years, now that more and more large batteries are being connected to the electricity grid. For the time being, Planetpod, like many other providers, states that its battery can pay for itself in 6.5 years. "But it is typically Dutch to be so blinded by it. The attractiveness of the home battery also comes from its independence and from the fact that you use your own power optimally."
The Planetpod's hardware and software are still in development, and the start-up has hired software and hardware experts to supervise this. The first copies will be assembled in the Netherlands next year, and at a later stage Planetpod wants to move production to Asia.
Funding round at hardware funds
Money for the development comes partly from angel investors, including Erik de Bruijn, founder of 3D printer manufacturer Ultimaker. "But we are also working on a larger round for which we are approaching funds that invest in hardware. We want to complete that before the end of this year and so far we are receiving enthusiastic responses."
As far as timing is concerned, the boys are still right, they think. "If we follow the German market and half of the buyers of solar panels will soon purchase a battery, we will be talking about almost a million units in the coming years. Certainly in 2027, when the feed-in tariff ends. That year really promises exponential growth. While our pre-orders give the idea that we already have a few percent market share. Yes, it is a different company than Mountox, a completely different game If we don't get to the market quickly, other parties will come onto the market with home batteries."
•
18 w
great idea! https://doodlebaseball.io/