Givenergy vs Huawei 10 January 2022 at 6:12PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 20 replies 2.3K views

Piccyman1

Magnitio said:

I was due to have a solar installation in a few weeks with an 8.2kwh Givenergy battery. Just been notified that there are shipping delays and have been offered the choice of waiting another 4-6 weeks or having a Huawei 10kwh battery and Huawei hybrid inverter for an additional £1k. Does anyone have experience of the Huawei batteries and inverters?

I was told the same thing this morning, delayed until mid March.

Not very happy as I put down the deposit at the end of November.

Magnitio

Piccyman1 said:

I was told the same thing this morning, delayed until mid March.

Not very happy as I put down the deposit at the end of November.

I also paid deposit in November. Various plans based around getting the installation at the end of this month, so frustrated when I heard things had changed. After a lot of investigation and discussion with the installer, I have decided to go ahead with the Huawei installation.

Pulpdiction

Can I ask what the overall price is?  Is it a standalone battery and therefore 20% VAT?

I'm considering a battery but its about the payback and it's still about 9 years based on my calculations which could be around the life of the battery depending on how the electricity prices go.

Magnitio

I am buying the battery as part of a solar installation, so the VAT is 5%. There is so much uncertainty in the energy market that it is difficult to know what the payback period will be. Ideally, there will be a significant invesment in renewables and grid storage which will bring down the price of electricity and mean that there is no payback within the life of the batteries I am purchasing. However, with government's changing priorities, record gas prices, increasing use of electricity for EV's and heat pumps, I am keen to help by generating what I can, storing excess for overnight use and having backup in case of grid outages.

Piccyman1

I have just been notified of another 8 week delay, now mid May, there is somthing wrong with this company, 6 months to get a battery and a/c inverter, China are one of the fastest producers of equipment, somthing is up.

Verdigris

I noticed the distributors for Pylontech have a shipment due on 24th February.

Magnitio

Piccyman1 said:

I have just been notified of another 8 week delay, now mid May, there is somthing wrong with this company, 6 months to get a battery and a/c inverter, China are one of the fastest producers of equipment, somthing is up.

There has been a massive global increase in demand at the same time as shortages in chips and shipping containers. 3 of the 4 quotes I received last year were from company's pushing Givenergy batteries, so I suspect significant sales is their main issue. When I discussed this with my installer last month, I decided it was too risky waiting for Givenergy and the hope of getting equipment from the end of February delivery from China, so went with the Huawei system that was in stock. So far, I have been happy with the installation and don't have to stress about further delays.

ispookie666

I'm slowly loosing the patience 

Magnitio

ispookie666 said:

I'm slowly loosing the patience 

How long have you been waiting? Have you been given a new date?

joe956

I would definitely avoid givEnergy - their kit is beyond horrible. We had inverter and 9.5kWh battery fitted at the beginning of this year. What they don't tell you that their kit has a major firmware fault where the battery keeps loosing charge i.e. you check the app and it will tell you that you have 50% left (in our case nearly 5kWh) yet few minutes later the battery will be showing 0% and charging from the grid.
Contacted GE and they told us that this is a known problem and they knew about it from the middle of 2022 (that is based on posts on their community forum - google it and to see the posts you will have to register - they hidden the forum so search engines cannot index it) There is no fix in sight. For us it is too late to change the kit but given the choice I would stay away from anything branded GivEnergy (more like take energy)
Another thing to note about that company - anything goes wrong with your kit they will refuse to do anything - you will have to contact your installer, there are deposits to be paid and after weeks of waiting, blame shifting  you might your hardware fixed.