They are more expensive than natural gas backup if you buy them new at retail. But these things get un-useful in an industrial setting quite regularly while still retaining quite a bit of utility for people who just want medium term household energy storage.
Would it be practical for EVERYONE to buy these things up used? Not a chance. But if you just want to set yourself up nicely look around. They go for a few hundred used as that's all the recyclers will pay for them.
EDIT: I wasn't thinking of them in comparison to natural gas backup until you brought it up. When 10kW of solar cells cost $10k and a 5kW inverter costs another $3k-$5k the idea of paying another $5k to put in a rather large-sized battery doesn't seem all that out of place to me. But you're right that a small natural gas generator would win re: batteries.
This sounds interesting. Looks like these guys will just come out to your house and drop off a $1745 700-pound battery rated at 60 amps at 12 volts (720 watts) for 20 hours, and pick up your previous battery at no charge. They apparently will last up to 7 years even in forklift service. The main drawback seems to be that the forklift batteries are not maintenance-free.
I'm more interested in picking up a really big one for a few hundred used. If it can't do a full 8 hour shift anymore but can only do 6 hours it's nearly useless to place that really uses it. But for my purposes an 80% capacity battery is still plenty good.
They might not deliver quite as happily to a residence as to a business as the battery would likely be located in a less-than-warehouse type location. But it's definitely worth a try!
They are more expensive than natural gas backup if you buy them new at retail. But these things get un-useful in an industrial setting quite regularly while still retaining quite a bit of utility for people who just want medium term household energy storage.
Would it be practical for EVERYONE to buy these things up used? Not a chance. But if you just want to set yourself up nicely look around. They go for a few hundred used as that's all the recyclers will pay for them.
EDIT: I wasn't thinking of them in comparison to natural gas backup until you brought it up. When 10kW of solar cells cost $10k and a 5kW inverter costs another $3k-$5k the idea of paying another $5k to put in a rather large-sized battery doesn't seem all that out of place to me. But you're right that a small natural gas generator would win re: batteries.