Big players clash in the home energy storage market: Anker and EcoFlow showcase their strengths | Hardcore Krypton Live at IFA 2025

Editor's Note: At the 2025 IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin), Chinese manufacturers once again dominated the exhibition. With the world's most complete and complex supply chain and the largest number of the most experienced hardware engineers, these companies are well - prepared to offer the world the most unique products. From audio - visual equipment to energy storage, from laptops to smart home appliances, Chinese manufacturers have demonstrated their impressive technological capabilities. As a technology media outlet that has long focused on the hardware industry, we will closely follow this largest European technology exhibition for the next five days, explore new products and emerging sectors, and identify future trends.

Author | Zhang Ziyi, Huang Nan

Editor | Yuan Silai

As the only consumer electronics exhibition in the second half of the year, IFA is different from CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and MWC (Mobile World Congress), where a large number of futuristic "concept products" are displayed. The IFA exhibition features more practical products, so it is jokingly referred to as the "technology supermarket" in the industry.

This also means that the products showcased at the IFA are likely to become the main products promoted by companies in the future.

At this year's IFA, Anker Innovations and EcoFlow both launched their home energy storage products. Anker released its new smart charging pile, while EcoFlow showcased its outdoor energy storage products.

As early as 2015, Anker Innovations launched portable energy storage products. However, due to the immature market, energy storage did not become a major focus for Anker.

Since 2020, the pandemic and the Russia - Ukraine war have successively led to a surge in demand in the energy storage market. EcoFlow quickly "overtook on a curve" and became the market leader in the global portable energy storage market, with revenues reaching up to 8 billion yuan in 2024.

However, as more players enter the market, price wars have emerged in this industry. Meanwhile, although the battery energy density and fast - charging technology continue to improve, there have been no fundamental breakthroughs in the functions and forms of portable energy storage products, making it difficult to stimulate large - scale replacement demand.

Against this backdrop, home energy storage has become a new battlefield for major companies.

Home energy storage is mainly used in home scenarios. It is a system that stores electrical energy as its core function, providing power support and energy management for households. It consists of a battery pack, an inverter, a battery management system (BMS), and an energy management system (EMS).

This is a more complex sector than portable energy storage. Overseas, home energy storage systems are related to home safety, with a long certification process and higher requirements for product stability. Compared with portable energy storage, home energy storage products are larger in size and more complex in components, testing a company's capabilities in transportation, installation services, and after - sales support.

Moreover, Anker and EcoFlow's competitors are not just each other, but also many established companies with strong capabilities. A report released by QYResearch in December 2024 shows that the core manufacturers of global home energy storage systems include Tesla, BYD, and LG, among others. These three companies already hold approximately 41% of the market share.

Compared with giants like Tesla and BYD, Anker and EcoFlow face challenges in product technology and sales channels. They need to seize opportunities and understand the market better than others.

01 Affordability and Simplification

The star of Anker's energy storage exhibits this time comes from Anker Solix, a sub - brand of Anker Innovations' home new energy category, which offers various products such as solar energy storage and home energy storage.

36Kr learned that at the 2025 IFA, Anker Innovations showcased two new products of Anker Solix. The Anker Solix Solarbank Multisystem is a brand - new home energy storage solution, and the Anker SOLIX V1 Smart EV Charger is a smart charging pile equipped with AI gesture recognition technology.

The overseas home energy storage industry actually relies heavily on offline accumulation.

Xiong Kang, the head of Anker Innovations' charging and energy storage division, once told the media that overseas consumers incur high costs when installing home - use photovoltaic energy storage systems. In Europe, it may cost 20,000 euros, and in the United States, it starts from 30,000 US dollars. The decision - making process from purchase, installation, loan application to post - installation maintenance is quite complex. Meanwhile, most installers of home energy storage products are also the offline sellers of these products, leaving consumers with limited channels to independently learn about products and brands.

Newcomers like Anker and EcoFlow need to address immediate pain points with their products to quickly enter the market.

Balcony solar energy storage products in the European market are easy to install and have a fast return on investment (4 years). However, due to the power limitations of local balcony photovoltaic policies, the electricity cost savings are limited, only 39%. Traditional home energy storage systems have powerful performance (80% electricity cost savings), but they require a large initial investment, are complex to install, and have a long investment payback period of up to 9 years.

Therefore, a lower price and simpler installation have become important design concepts for Anker Innovations' Anker Solix Solarbank home energy storage products.

Specifically, the Anker Solix Solarbank Multisystem can be connected to up to 4 Solarbanks, achieving a photovoltaic input of 14.4kW and an AC output power of 4.8kW. The total capacity can be expanded to 64.5kWh, providing power for the entire household.

In terms of installation, Anker's products support a "Semi - DIY" installation mode, reducing installation costs by up to 85%. Moreover, users can install and connect the photovoltaic and battery parts themselves, and only need a professional electrician to complete the grid connection of the Power Dock and system registration.

Caption: Anker Solix Solarbank Multisystem

The traditional sales channel for home energy storage products usually involves the product manufacturer selling to distributors, distributors selling to installers, and finally installers selling to consumers. Large installers are often controlled by a few brands, so new - entrants must rebuild their installer channels.

The Anker Solix Solarbank series products support the semi - DIY installation mode, which not only reduces the product price but also eases the difficulty for Anker Innovations to expand its installer channels to some extent.

The product improvements have become Anker's key to enter the market. According to Anker's financial report, its energy storage business revenue exceeded 3 billion yuan in 2024, almost tripling year - on - year. At the beginning of this year, Anker Innovations also raised over 200 million yuan for the R & D and industrialization of portable and home energy storage products.

02 Focus on Both Portable Energy Storage and Home Energy Storage

EcoFlow is also making efforts in the field of home energy storage.

However, EcoFlow did not launch new products at this year's IFA. It showcased products released a few months ago.

In June this year, EcoFlow launched home energy storage products, including the balcony solar system PowerStream and the three - phase home solar battery solution EcoFlow PowerOcean. The PowerStream can convert solar energy into household electricity through a micro - inverter.

Similarly, EcoFlow is also trying to lower the installation threshold. The PowerStream is powered by a standard wall socket, making it easy for tenants to use.

In addition to improving the hardware experience, as a new - entrant company, EcoFlow is willing to invest in software development. Considering the diverse electricity consumption needs of different users, EcoFlow has newly launched the OASIS system on the software side. This system can adjust to the TOU (Time - of - Use) pricing model based on the peak and off - peak electricity periods in Europe. It charges when the electricity price is low and discharges during peak electricity consumption periods, dynamically adjusting charging and discharging according to electricity rates to minimize the overall electricity cost.

Caption: The OASIS software can be applied to balcony photovoltaic systems

Of course, judging from the products EcoFlow brought to the IFA, its main business still lies in portable outdoor energy storage.

EcoFlow's outdoor energy storage product line mainly consists of two series: Delta and River. The Delta series features high - capacity and high - power flagship products. The DELTA 3 series was launched in the first half of this year.

The River series focuses more on being lightweight and portable, with most products weighing less than 5kg. It supports fast charging and solar charging, making it suitable for short - distance camping, photography, and other outdoor leisure activities.

Both Anker Innovations and EcoFlow have experienced ups and downs in the energy storage sector. The changes in the energy storage industry are closely related to the intensity of industry competition and the macro - political situation.

It is foreseeable that due to global energy security and environmental protection issues, the demand for the energy storage market will always exist. And the market is expanding beyond the mainstream high - demand regions such as North America and Europe.

Yingke learned that in the past year, EcoFlow has been accelerating its business layout in more countries and regions in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Through local cooperation and participation in infrastructure project tenders, it aims to seize the structural opportunities brought about by unstable power grids and the rise of outdoor culture in these regions and gain an early foothold in the incremental market.

With the significant decline in the price of battery - grade lithium carbonate, the core cost of energy storage systems continues to decrease, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find exciting points in the portable energy storage market. Both Anker and EcoFlow must enter the home energy storage sector, which is more challenging. In the next few years, offline layout will be the focus of competition for Anker and EcoFlow to achieve continuous growth.