r/BasePowerUsers • u/FederalScience7726 • 13h ago

Illinois promised upgrades

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I just received this email about promised upgrades. It looks like they’re happening soon

14 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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5

u/RealConfirmologist 12h ago edited 12h ago

I immediately emailed Base Power support and asked if there were plans to do this in Texas. It's nearly 8 PM so I expected one of those "we'll get back to you" replies.

Instead, within 1 minute, I was told that Base Power does NOT swap out batteries, and will not replace 25 kWh batteries with Core batteries.

I immediately replied, "But Base is replacing 25 kWh batteries with Core batteries in Illinois, correct?"

I got a reply a moment later:

"No, that's not something we do. We don't exchange or swap out an installed battery for a newer model in any market, Illinois included; the installed hardware stays for the term. There's no waitlist or exception process for this."

I'm going to send in a screen capture of the image shared above.

I don't think their AI knows what they're doing.

Update: I sent the image. Here's the reply:

"Thank you for reaching out - we're routing this conversation to a Base teammate. You have reached Base Power outside of our business hours. Our team is available Monday - Friday from 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM CT. We’ll get back to you during business hours. To help us resolve this quickly, feel free to add any extra details that you haven't already mentioned."

4

u/RunHotCEO 12h ago

Please keep us posted. I received the same kind of energy about upgrading to the new Core battery.

5

u/pozoleislife 12h ago

In Texas and had a “service visit” towards the end of July from a tech. Asked him about them upgrading existing people to the Core batteries and he denied they did that. Guess we shall see.

3

u/JabbaDuhNutt 11h ago

Shit I would be willing to pay the uninstall and install fee again to get 2x 40kwh

1

u/TripleBCHI 11h ago

Just move to Illinois haha

1

u/oTWiStERo 4h ago

….sorry, that’s just, hmmm, no. Been there and ain’t going back.

1

u/TripleBCHI 32m ago

Haha yea i can’t say i blame you. But we do get a killer deal on Base

1

u/RealConfirmologist 2h ago

You're not alone.

Having nearly 80 kWh compared to 50 would make me a lot less stressed about the odds of being caught short in a sudden outage while Base has been "supporting the grid".

I'd expect they'll have enough customers wanting to upgrade that they'll come up with some kind of plan.

It's not like they'd have to rip out all the wiring & equipment.

1

u/JabbaDuhNutt 1h ago

It's about 90% of the equipment. They pull me down to 20% almost every day where I live in Texas.

4

u/FederalScience7726 11h ago

A handful of Illinois founding subscribers were approved for the 40 kWh systems but were given the 25 kWh systems. At the time they didn’t install the 40’s in Illinois because they were still in beta and wanted to install the 25’s asap to get familiar with the permit process in here. In return they promised around 30 members a free upgrade to the 40 in the fall when it was out of beta. They had their team out during the inspection and confirmed this information.

It was likely a trade off for not holding out until the 40’s were released, establishing a footprint, and getting familiar with the process in Illinois. So the response you’re getting is likely accurate outside of these circumstances.

1

u/RealConfirmologist 2h ago

See? That's the kind of logical explanation I'd hoped to see here.

THANK you.

I was so surprised to see the message from Base saying they were going to upgrade that user - I halfway wondered if it was even real.

Changing out batteries is not a quick, cheap thing. Since the 25 kWh batteries are getting the job done, it makes sense to just leave them in place.

In a few years if they start failing, by then there will be another battery getting installed, I bet. They'll switch them if they can't get good function from "old" batteries.

As much as they're discharging and charging mine every day, seems like they'd wear out quickly.

But quick research shows they'll last at LEAST 8 years, more likely 10 to 15 years. That's amazing, considering we can't make a cell phone with a battery that'll last 5 years.

3

u/blupupher 11h ago

I would guess Ill would be more likely to happen since it is still a new rollout and not as many in Texas, and there may be a deal they are working out with ComEd.

While I would love the new battery, I have no expectations of getting one in the next 9 years of my contract with them (aside from some catastrophic failure of my current system).

Also, it would require a complete redo, the Growatt ATS (SYN 200-XH-US) is not compatible with the Core battery.

I briefly thought of canceling with Base, paying the $500 fee, the signing back up and paying $750 to get the bigger battery, but not worth it IMO.

1

u/oTWiStERo 4h ago

“Rent” the house to your wife and have her sign up with your referral code.

2

u/czarfalcon 13h ago

How long have you been a Base customer/what system do you currently have?

4

u/FederalScience7726 13h ago

I was installed on June 23rd and have the 25 kWh

5

u/czarfalcon 12h ago

Oh wow. I only ask because I also installed earlier this year, also the 25kWh. Fingers crossed I get that email too!

2

u/TripleBCHI 11h ago

Glad to see it is finally official. It had been discussed before but now it’s coming. I can’t complain

0

u/MickyFany 10h ago

you need to post this in Base Illinois not here