How I kept cool with NYC’s free battery program for window AC units

我是如何通过纽约市的免费电池计划在窗式空调下保持凉爽的

My family has spent four summers participating in demand response programs whereby utility companies pay customers to reduce energy use on the hottest summer days. Most summers have involved carefully precooling our New York City apartment before switching off the air conditioners and sweating it out during the designated demand response periods. 我的家人已经连续四个夏天参与了需求响应计划，即公用事业公司向在最炎热的夏日减少用电量的客户支付费用。在过去的多数夏天里，我们不得不小心翼翼地在纽约市的公寓里提前降温，然后在指定的响应时段关闭空调，忍受闷热。

But this year, we kept our window air conditioners running throughout a heat dome event that drove daytime temperatures into the triple digits and made the nights oppressively hot. The difference was that we powered the air conditioners through two household batteries tucked away unobtrusively in the corners of our living room and bedroom. 但今年，在热穹顶现象导致白天温度飙升至三位数（华氏度）、夜晚酷热难耐的情况下，我们依然开着窗式空调。不同之处在于，我们通过两块放置在客厅和卧室角落里、毫不显眼的家用电池为空调供电。

We were among about 1,000 New York City households that took part in a free and growing program offered by the local startup Every Electric. The company’s proposition is simple: Get one or more batteries delivered to your home, plug the batteries into a standard wall electrical outlet, and then plug your window air conditioners into the batteries. Households can keep running air conditioners as usual during peak demand periods while also earning money through the local demand response program with the utility company Con Edison. 我们是纽约市约 1,000 个参与该计划的家庭之一，该计划由当地初创公司 Every Electric 提供，且正在不断扩大。该公司的方案很简单：将一块或多块电池送到你家，插入标准墙壁插座，然后将窗式空调插在电池上。这样，家庭既能在高峰用电时段照常使用空调，又能通过与公用事业公司联合爱迪生（Con Edison）的当地需求响应计划赚取收益。

“Being able to make air conditioners drop off the grid without actually impacting the comfort of residents was really awesome to see,” said Andrew Wang, co-founder and CEO of Every Electric, in an interview with Ars. Wang and cofounder Richard May first met while working together as postdoctoral researchers at the Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center at Columbia University in New York City. “能够让空调在不影响居民舒适度的情况下脱离电网运行，这真的很棒，”Every Electric 的联合创始人兼首席执行官 Andrew Wang 在接受 Ars 采访时表示。Wang 和联合创始人 Richard May 最初是在纽约哥伦比亚大学电化学能源中心担任博士后研究员时相识的。

In 2023, they launched the startup under the name Standard Potential Co., with a focus on developing sodium-ion battery chemistry for commercialization. But they soon pivoted to a very different business plan—deploying residential batteries across New York City households to create a network of energy storage resources acting as a virtual power plant. The company officially rebranded as Every Electric in 2026. 2023 年，他们以 Standard Potential Co. 的名义创办了这家初创公司，专注于开发钠离子电池化学技术以实现商业化。但他们很快转向了一个截然不同的商业计划——在纽约市的家庭中部署家用电池，建立一个作为虚拟电厂运行的储能资源网络。该公司于 2026 年正式更名为 Every Electric。

Getting set up

准备工作

Many companies have established virtual power plant programs to offer utility companies greater flexibility and resources for managing electricity demand on the grid. Every Electric stands out for piloting a free power bank program that loans batteries to apartment renters and other households in exchange for a temporary deposit, which the company has reduced from $50 to $30 per battery. The deposit is returned when a household decides to send the batteries back. Customers can also purchase the batteries outright for $650 each. 许多公司已经建立了虚拟电厂项目，为公用事业公司提供更大的灵活性和资源来管理电网的电力需求。Every Electric 的独特之处在于其试点了一项免费充电宝计划，将电池借给公寓租户和其他家庭，仅需缴纳一笔临时押金（公司已将每块电池的押金从 50 美元降至 30 美元）。当家庭决定退还电池时，押金会退还。客户也可以选择以每块 650 美元的价格直接购买。

The battery delivery and setup process is straightforward. When the drop-shipped batteries arrived in their boxes, I plugged them into the appropriate wall sockets and followed a simple process to register the battery serial numbers with Every Electric and connect the batteries to my home Wi-Fi network. Once connected to a local household’s Wi-Fi, the batteries act as power banks that automatically charge during low-demand periods at night and discharge their energy storage when air conditioners are running during peak demand periods. Every Electric automatically manages the battery cycles remotely. 电池的配送和设置过程非常简单。当快递送达电池后，我将其插入墙壁插座，并按照简单的流程在 Every Electric 注册了电池序列号，并将电池连接到家里的 Wi-Fi 网络。一旦连接到家庭 Wi-Fi，这些电池就变成了充电宝，在夜间低需求时段自动充电，并在高峰时段空调运行时释放储存的能量。Every Electric 会远程自动管理电池的充放电循环。

Customers eventually get paid through Every Electric online accounts linked with Con Edison’s Smart Usage Rewards program. Every Electric gets paid directly by Con Edison as a program partner and, in turn, generally promises residents can earn $150 each year per air conditioner. 客户最终通过与联合爱迪生（Con Edison）的“智能使用奖励”计划关联的 Every Electric 在线账户获得报酬。Every Electric 作为合作伙伴直接从联合爱迪生获得报酬，并承诺每台空调每年能为居民带来 150 美元的收益。

“There’s a business model innovation here where you make [household batteries] as easy and as accessible as possible, you get them as far and wide as possible, and then you essentially share in the value that you provide in the grid,” Wang told Ars. “We split the earnings so that households can see tangible benefits, and then we pay off the assets and grow the program as it goes along.” “这里存在一种商业模式创新，即让（家用电池）尽可能简单易用，尽可能广泛地普及，然后本质上分享你在电网中提供的价值，”Wang 对 Ars 说。“我们分配收益，让家庭看到切实的利益，然后我们偿还资产成本，并随着项目的推进不断扩大规模。”

Using the battery

使用电池

Every Electric’s battery of choice is the Bluetti Elite 200 V2, a lithium iron phosphate battery that can store 2 kilowatt-hours of energy while being compact enough for smaller New York apartments. It’s compatible with any 120V plug-in air conditioner, but it has four standard AC sockets that can also accommodate other appliances such as plug-in fans or air purifiers. Additional battery sockets can charge laptops, smartphones, and other electronic devices that have power cables using USB-A or USB-C connectors. A 12V DC outlet in the style of a car’s cigarette lighter is also available. Every Electric 选择的电池是 Bluetti Elite 200 V2，这是一款磷酸铁锂电池，可存储 2 千瓦时的能量，且体积小巧，适合纽约较小的公寓。它兼容任何 120V 插电式空调，并配有四个标准交流插座，也可用于其他电器，如插电式风扇或空气净化器。额外的电池接口可以为使用 USB-A 或 USB-C 连接线的笔记本电脑、智能手机和其他电子设备充电。此外，它还提供了一个类似汽车点烟器的 12V 直流输出口。

The batteries can even provide backup power during power outages. For example, households can plug their Wi-Fi routers or refrigerators into the batteries to keep those devices running. One bonus has been the discovery that feline family members of various New York households especially enjoy hanging around the batteries. “We found out cats are big fans of the powerbanks,” Wang told Ars. “I think it’s because they’re a little warmer.” 这些电池甚至可以在停电时提供备用电源。例如，家庭可以将 Wi-Fi 路由器或冰箱插入电池，以保持这些设备的运行。一个意外的发现是，纽约许多家庭的猫咪成员特别喜欢待在电池周围。“我们发现猫咪是这些充电宝的忠实粉丝，”Wang 对 Ars 说。“我想是因为它们稍微暖和一点。”

Despite such upsides, there have been a few kinks to work out during peak demand periods. When the utility company Con Edison had to reduce voltage for hundreds of thousands of customers across New York City to protect grid equipment during extreme heat periods, the power draw from the batteries tripped my apartment unit’s circuit breaker on two separate occasions. Every Electric’s team responded by continually updating the battery firmware to reduce the risk of tripping local circuit breakers. 尽管有这些优点，但在高峰需求期间仍有一些问题需要解决。当联合爱迪生公司为了在极端高温期间保护电网设备而不得不降低纽约市数十万客户的电压时，电池的电力抽取导致我公寓的断路器跳闸了两次。Every Electric 团队通过不断更新电池固件来降低导致当地断路器跳闸的风险，从而应对这一问题。

That challenge can vary depending on each customer’s building. “Every household is unique, and sometimes you have pre-war buildings with old wiring,” Wang told Ars. “You have to manage both some of the losses that are on the ConEd side and then some of the losses that might be in the wiring in people’s walls to finetune how we operate the power banks to fit within the parameters of each household.” 这一挑战因客户所在的建筑而异。“每个家庭都是独特的，有时你会遇到战前建筑，它们的线路很老旧，”Wang 对 Ars 说。“你必须同时管理联合爱迪生侧的损耗以及人们墙内线路可能存在的损耗，从而微调我们操作充电宝的方式，以适应每个家庭的参数。”