EcoFlow PowerOcean Battery Review: Cutting My Bill in Half

You may also need to upgrade your wiring and electrical panel and obtain permission from your local authority. In my case, here in Scotland, this meant asking my distribution network operator. The American equivalent is an electric distribution utility or local distribution company. They may have to upgrade your connection. I needed a new cut-out with a larger fuse to handle my EV charging, battery, and air-source heat pump, but the upgrade was free. Your mileage may vary and it may take some time to receive a response. Your installer will likely handle this process for you.

You will also need to choose an installer. I recommend shopping around, reading reviews, and getting multiple quotes. Greener Energy Group installed my batteries, and they were excellent. A site visit was made to discuss the work and the installation was completed within a day. Installers need a suitable location for the battery (mine were installed in the garage, but they’re weather resistant, so they can be installed outside too), and they need to run cables to your main fuse board.

The EcoFlow PowerOcean system stands out due to its 15-year warranty, modularity (expandable up to 45 kWh), stylish design, and accessible smartphone app. I went with a 6-kilowatt hybrid inverter (thinking we might get solar panels soon) and two 5-kilowatt batteries. In hindsight, I should have gone for three or four, but I’ll get to that later.

The EcoFlow PowerOcean has a sleek gray metallic design, and is only 188 millimeters deep (about 7.5 inches). It’s very unobtrusive, but it’s better if you can hide it in the garage or basement as this will also help with operating temperatures, although the PowerOcean also has built-in heating to avoid reduced performance when it’s too cold.

powering up

It was very easy to configure my EcoFlow PowerOcean. My current EV tariff (Intelligent Octopus Go) offers cheap electricity between 11:30 pm and 5:30 am, so I fill the battery during those hours, and it starts discharging at 5:31 am every morning. We are a family of four and I work from home.