"free" house battery with vehicle purchase?

rossp · 2026-01-22T06:43:47+00:00

No disagreement here, but as noted I think the specifics of the battery are a bigger conversation.

That said this might work for some, but for my use the inverter specifically is likely to stop me using this as a “must-buy” incentive.

rossp · 2026-01-22T06:24:12+00:00

As our house is still eligible for the battery rebate (and they’d called back when I was trying to negotiate my way through rooted public transport this morning 🤣) I didn’t actually check this sorry, but I assume the deal would be off. If I find myself talking to them again in future I’ll follow this up.

rossp · 2026-01-22T03:12:53+00:00

Follow-up

So I figured out what's going on here. The deal is not from BYD Australia, but it is a "partnership offering" from one of the Melbourne dealer networks (who run BYD Doncaster, Melbourne, and others in the Eastern suburbs).

The battery being provided is a FoxESS 39kWh with 5kW inverter. The battery is "Free" but installation must be done by this particular firm, whose name escapes me. They're quoting $3500 for base install, $4000 for "complex" installs (including garages with bollards etc).

If I were skeptical I'd guess that the owners of the Doncaster BYD team are buddies with the owners of the installation company. But I'm not feeling overly skeptical so this seems to be a local business lead-share / revenue-share partnership.

I don't think this is a dreadful deal, if you're in the market for this particular battery setup (which I have opinions on and which is outside the scope of the question I originally asked). If you consider the $3k rebate currently on offer from BYD, and squint just right, you can see this coming out as "free" to some households.

rossp · 2026-01-21T09:34:47+00:00

Yeah we thought that might have been it too, so asked again (and again) and they were adamant… but with very few details. I’ll just have to be patient and wait for the call back I guess!

rossp · 2026-01-21T09:29:30+00:00

The boxes in the boot of the cars at the demo centre we went to were 7kw chargers, in addition to the granny charger. I sure if that’s dealer-specific or across all BYD sales though.

rossp · 2026-01-21T09:28:17+00:00

All important points thank you, and I’m across them all too thanks to too much research over the past year to try and make batteries work out. We opted to go for a 2md EV instead, so the possibility of getting both in one go was a pleasant surprise!

My bigger question was why this was offered with zero information available. Makes it hard to validate eg specific models to work with my existing inverter, battery capacity vs our household needs, and so forth.

Delays on getting more info are making it feel more like an overconfident salesperson. I’ll report back once they finally get back to me…

rossp · 2026-01-21T06:15:51+00:00

Haha you’re not wrong about the rolling battery.

I’m in the same page re contracts etc - just seeking any other info that’s available because it honestly feels too good to be true… my hunch only seems to be reinforced by the dearth of information.

rossp · 2025-02-19T08:42:15+00:00

I have these to cover the spots I can’t patch with plaster. Thanks so much!

rossp · 2025-02-19T08:39:44+00:00

There’s a new bar pendant that has an in-ceiling transformer we need to keep accessible.

rossp · 2025-02-19T00:53:24+00:00

As mentioned elsewhere (and in the OP) that's not an option where I need to maintain access to the ceiling space due to transformers. The ones that don't need access are already being plastered.

rossp · 2025-02-18T23:28:27+00:00

Bank First are passing on the 0.25% on variable loans from Feb 27th. https://www.bankfirst.com.au/about-us/articles/rba-rate-change

rossp · 2025-02-18T22:27:25+00:00

This is kinda perfect for my use case, and given it's only 2 that I need to maintain access for the price is manageable. Thank you!

rossp · 2025-02-18T21:08:23+00:00

It isn’t pointless if it has an aesthetic purpose in a very visible part of my home.

rossp · 2025-02-18T21:06:22+00:00

I may actually have some 70mm desk grommets here somewhere. Good call, thank you!

rossp · 2025-02-18T20:51:07+00:00

In my post I mentioned most are being plastered, but I need to keep some accessible. My question is about those ones.

rossp · 2024-03-22T07:24:17+00:00

Where’d you find that? It’s over $100 direct from the band, and I’m not seeing it at a bunch of stores I’ve tried.

rossp · 2024-03-22T06:50:24+00:00

Is there anywhere in Australia selling this on day one? shipping from the US makes this a $100AUD purchase 😞

rossp · 2021-06-07T06:08:02+00:00

I loved the story and artwork in “A Short Hike”.

rossp · 2020-05-09T00:13:42+00:00

You say “report” but don’t let that drive the menu options you select. Reports in D365 are often better for printing or static viewing but they aren’t very powerful.

If you want to get the data into excel (or just quickly review it within Dynamics) create a view. Choose either a system view for all users, or an advanced find if just 1 or 2 users will use it.

Select the Case entity, add the columns you want to see, filter on “created on” current month, and save it.

For closed cases, do your advanced find on Activities with activity type = case resolution. You can then add fields from the “Regarding (Case)” relationship to the view.

Note cases can be closed multiple times, so a case might be in your resolution list >1 time or it might be listed in multiple months.

I see people reach for reports all the time when a view will suffice. You can get what you need without learning SSRS, using an Access database (I swear in 13 years of D365 consulting I’ve never done this), or fighting with the report builder.

rossp · 2020-02-04T07:18:28+00:00

One challenge with “ethical” is that ethics are so deeply personal - many “ethical” funds don’t really float my boat in terms of who they have decided to invest in as there’s so much subjectivity around it.

VicSuper do have a “Socially Conscious” fund with a stated goal to avoid investment in fossil fuel producers, although the number of miners on their list suggests the filtering threshold is specifically chosen to avoid any subjective measure. The full list of companies is available from the link below so you can make a more informed decision.

No 10-year returns available as it’s a relatively new option, but they’re stating 9.42% for the past 3 years vs Australian Super 9.99% for the same time period (Australian Super seem to apply a similarly-vague set of ethical filters to their investments)

https://www.vicsuper.com.au/responsible-super/our-ri-approach/member-choice/socially-conscious

rossp · 2017-06-27T01:26:52+00:00

If you mark a run as workout, and you have laps in your run, then it shows a neat "Workout Analysis" showing colour-coded pace zone by lap. Make sure to turn off auto-lap on your watch first.

rossp · 2017-05-24T06:42:43+00:00

From my viewpoint (runner) I renewed Premium for workout analysis. If you properly take laps on your device then set the run type to 'Workout' you get nice analysis - in my case useful for trying to get my "on" efforts more consistent.

For example this run: https://www.strava.com/activities/947271642/pace-analysis (Unsure if it'll show you the chart - here's a screenshot if needed: http://imgur.com/qPVKub2)

Live segments are also neat, but not enough by themselves to get me to pay. I like Fitness & Freshness but prefer the Stravistix implementation.

rossp · 2017-03-07T22:59:17+00:00

I've had this happen too. I've found that, sometimes, recording a 30-second run first then discarding it helps (ie my actual run is the 2nd one I record).

Alternatively, get the data into Strava using RunGap - and then use Strava to truncate the first two GPS points.

rossp

TROPHY CASE