Pila makes the power station pretty

Pila Energy’s home batteries are now available to preorder with deliveries expected to begin in February 2026. These power stations are meant to be seen, unlike most batteries in this class that are better suited for job sites than designer lofts. Pila’s home batteries are designed to keep critical devices like a fridge running during a blackout, while also helping to reduce daily energy costs.

It’s a similar idea to Backup by BioLite, which was announced in 2024 but still hasn’t shipped.

With Pila, you could plug one battery unit, measuring 15.0 × 26.5 × 3.3 inches (380 × 675 × 85mm) and 45lbs (20.4kg), into a standard 120V kitchen wall outlet and keep the fridge permanently plugged into the Pila home battery — no electrician required. When there’s an outage, the fridge will automatically failover to protect your food. The battery can also be configured to charge when energy rates are low and then power the fridge when rates are high to save a few bucks each month on your utility bill. Units can be stacked for more capacity, or distributed around the home to power a window air conditioner, sump pump, or office. Everything is centrally managed over either Wi-Fi or onboard cellular via the Pila App.

The Pila home battery is built around a long-lasting 1.6kWh LFP battery and an AC inverter capable of 2400 watts of continuous output (and 7800W peak for half a second). That’s enough to keep a fridge / freezer combo running for about a day, while also making a few cups of coffee, charging a phone, and reheating a meal in the microwave. Click here if you need help figuring out what size home battery you need.

Pila home batteries start at $1,299, which is expensive at $0.81 per watt-hour, compared to about $0.50 per watt-hour you’ll typically pay in this category range. Nevertheless, I do think people will pay more for something that’s not an eyesore.