Going off-grid? Buy now to avoid the price pain

Recently published articles from Zenaji predicted battery prices were rising. This, unfortunately is proving to be correct.

Some international battery companies are unable to deliver for months to come due to component shortages and many inverter companies also are struggling to meet demand due to supply side issues. At Zenaji we have not been immune to these problems and have been forced to engineer some components out of our products and add others to do the same job. Inevitably the additional parts cost more but at least they are available!

The price of lithium has risen some 70% recently and, as Lithium is a base cost in many batteries the cell manufacturers have little choice but pass this cost on to consumers. In turn these additional costs are passed on to the ultimate consumer. So the picture is not a good one if you are looking to buy battery storage for your home or business at some future date.

On top of these shortages in the supply chain the cost of shipping has risen dramatically over the last 12 months. Local delivery charges have risen substantially. International charges even more. A 20ft container used to cost about 1000 US dollars to ship from China to Australia. That same container now cost 8 times that or approx. 8000 US dollars. The increased costs cannot be borne by manufacturers and inevitably will be passed on to end consumers.

There is some good news, however. Zenaji has secured a stock of cells at a price not too much higher than our last buy price and we have secured more of the lower amperage cells again at a relatively small premium to earlier purchasing prices. This means over the next month or so we will sell batteries at or close to our current prices. However, this will not be sustainable in the longer term so if you are about to purchase batteries please get in touch with Ben ASAP to secure your place in a growing que. Once this stock runs out prices will rise substantially barring some truly unforeseen miracle.

Electricity prices are also rising rapidly. The wholesale price of power in the last 12 months has doubled and just as surely as day follows night these prices will be passed on to consumers making solar and Zenaji batteries an even better economic proposition. So our heartfelt advice to everyone looking to moderate their future energy costs or go off grid altogether is get your batteries now. Do not wait, get your orders in to your dealers and get the best batteries money can buy at the lowest possible price.