SolarSarah

This is exactly the timing I've been waiting for. I've been spec'ing a 15kWh off-grid system for our cabin for the better part of a year and kept hesitating on pulling the trigger. Grabbed 8x EVE LF280K cells from Battery Hookup last week at $68/kWh delivered — that's wild compared to what I was seeing 18 months ago. Pairing them with a Victron Multiplus-II 3kVA and a JK BMS. If anyone's gone through the JK active balancer setup recently I'd love to compare notes — the documentation is a little sparse on the balancing current thresholds.

2019–2021 BMW i3 units added to the list is interesting for the DIY community — those packs are already popular for home storage builds (Samsung SDI NMC, active cooling, Battery-Emulator compatible). If a used i3 now qualifies for a $4,000 credit on sub-$25k purchase price, that changes the salvage math for builders who would buy the car primarily for the pack.

The eligibility distinction — agricultural producers and rural small businesses yes, residential rural homeowners no — is the one that catches people off guard. A working farm with 50%+ gross income from agricultural operations qualifies. A homeowner on a rural lot without agricultural income does not, even if they're well outside city limits. Worth verifying before putting time into an application.

At $19–39, a Recurrent report before buying a used EV is the most obvious due diligence spend I know of. A 15% battery health difference in a used Model 3 is 30–45 miles of reduced highway range and potentially $3,000–5,000 in resale value. There's no other single document that captures that information for a specific VIN.

The Illinois Adjustable Block Program requiring 50% of capacity reserved for income-qualified households is the policy design detail I keep pointing people to. That provision directly addresses the problem where community solar gets built and immediately subscribed by middle-income households before low-income renters can access it. Several states are now copying the Illinois model.

The "when NOT to build" section is the part I'm sending to people who ask me whether they should DIY. If you're not on TOU pricing and you're grid-connected, the financial case is weak. The article says it clearly instead of burying the caveat. Good piece.

The Tier-2 semi-solid cells at $180–220/kWh mentioned in the article — has anyone actually sourced these for a DIY build? That's 4x the cost of LFP 280Ah cells right now. I'm curious whether the weight savings on a vehicle conversion pencils out at that price premium.

The permit and licensed contractor question for refrigerant handling is one I run into constantly in California. California requires an EPA 608 certification AND a California-specific contractor license (C-20 HVAC) for any work involving refrigerant. This means a purely DIY refrigerant installation — even on a pre-charged line set — is technically unpermitted if you're not licensed. Mr. Cool's pre-charged system is designed to be installer-friendly but in CA you still need a C-20 licensed contractor to pull the permit and sign off. For multi-zone commercial-grade equipment, the permit process reliably requires licensed installation.

For California residents: the timeline gets longer. CPUC-regulated utilities (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E) have been running 3–6 month timelines for service upgrade coordination in some areas due to backlog. Apply for the utility service upgrade before you hire the electrician, not after. Some electricians won't schedule you until you have the utility approval anyway.

The permit point can't be overstated. I know three people who skipped the permit on 240V appliance circuits and one of them had an insurance claim denied after a kitchen fire that was unrelated to the electrical work — the insurer found the unpermitted circuit during investigation and used it as a basis to dispute the claim. Permits for simple circuits are cheap and fast. Pull them.