Original simplified battery, shown on a dark installation pad.

BASE POWER: INDEPENDENT CONCEPT STUDY

39.2 kWh of stored energy.

Inspect enclosure & illustrative interior ↗

A whole-home backup battery, designed from the ground up to support the grid.

Illustrative model, not an official Base Power image.

Schematic of a generic battery cell cut open: aluminium foil, LFP cathode, separator, graphite anode and copper foil layers, not to scale.

Charging moves lithium ions one way; using the energy moves them back.

DOE: “Li+ ions are transferred from the cathode to the anode during charging and then back to the cathode during discharging.”

Base: “Core uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry, one of the safest battery types available.”

Schematic: layers and ions not to scale. Sources: U.S. DOE, Lithium-ion Batteries Technology Strategy Assessment (2023); basepowercompany.com/core.

Illustrative: generic home-battery architecture, not Base Core’s internal layout.

Illustrative generic modules: one open tray of series-linked cells beside closed trays.

Cells are grouped into modules.

DOE: a module comprises “multiple cells in series.”

Base Core lists “39.2 kWh total energy.”

The number of modules shown is illustrative. Sources: U.S. DOE, Energy Storage Safety Strategic Plan (2024); basepowercompany.com/core.

Illustrative: generic home-battery architecture, not Base Core’s internal layout.

Illustrative generic management board with sense wires running to each module.

Electronics measure the cells and keep them in balance.

DOE: modules carry “BMS components for voltage sensing, temperature sensing, and cell balancing.”

DOE: the BMS “must limit charge currents to safe levels.”

Shown generically, not Base Core’s design. Source: U.S. DOE, Energy Storage Safety Strategic Plan (2024).

Illustrative: generic home-battery architecture, not Base Core’s internal layout.

Illustrative cooling layout, one generic example and not Base Core’s design: a cooling plate, a coolant loop, a radiator and a fan.

Thermal management keeps the cells in a safe temperature range.

DOE: the thermal management system “may include air or liquid circulation.”

Illustrative cooling layout: one generic example, not Base Core’s design; flow arrows are illustrative. Source: U.S. DOE, Energy Storage Safety Strategic Plan (2024).

Illustrative: generic home-battery architecture, not Base Core’s internal layout.

Illustrative generic conversion electronics: capacitors, a switching block, a coil and a heat sink.

DC becomes the AC a home uses, and back again to charge.

DOE: an inverter “converts direct current (DC) electricity … to alternating current (AC) electricity.”

Shown generically, not Base Core’s design. Source: U.S. DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office, Inverters and Grid Services Basics.

Illustrative: generic home-battery architecture, not Base Core’s internal layout.

Illustrative generic transfer switch, not Base’s hardware or its location, with grid, home and battery contacts; the blade has moved to the battery.

In an outage, the home switches to the battery.

Base’s published Core spec, Auto-switch: “Seamless (50 milliseconds).”

Base: the time it takes “to detect an outage and automatically switch your home to battery power.”

The switch drawing is generic: not Base’s hardware or its location. DOE/NREL: islanding uses hardware “including transfer switches.” Sources: basepowercompany.com/specs/core; U.S. DOE/NREL, Valuing the Resilience Provided by Solar and Battery Energy Storage Systems.

Illustrative: generic home-battery architecture, not Base Core’s internal layout.

Conceptual charging arrow from source to battery, followed by discharge arrow to home or grid.

Stored energy, useful power.

“During demand spikes, your Base battery helps balance your community’s grid: lowering prices and improving reliability.”

Base Power, basepowercompany.com/core · Directions shown are illustrative, not wiring.

Illustrative energy direction, not physical wiring.

Home windows remain illuminated while the grid is unavailable.

02 / HOME BACKUP

“When the grid goes down, your battery takes over instantly.”

Base Core lists its auto-switch as “Seamless (50 milliseconds)”: the time it takes “to detect an outage and automatically switch your home to battery power.”

Illustrative transition · Grid unavailable · Home on backup

Base Core specifications ↗
A neighbourhood of homes; only homes with a battery carry a marker, and the original installation is highlighted.

03 / NETWORK

One battery backs up one home.
A network of batteries helps balance the grid.

“When the grid is functioning, Base uses its batteries to support grid balancing.”

Illustrative network map with battery markers and conceptual connections.

04 / GRID SUPPORT

From home backup to grid support.

In Base’s words: “We design, build, install, and operate home batteries that back up your home, save your money, and support the grid.”

Illustrative network

Illustrative: generic home-battery architecture, not Base Core’s internal layout.

GRID / SOURCEBATTERYHOME / GRID CHARGING →DISCHARGING →
Illustrative energy flow

Illustrative network

Illustrative transition · Grid unavailable · Home on backup
Illustrative: homes without backup

A quiet network diagram introduces the research and deployment discussion.
Illustrative network

05 / LOCAL EXECUTION

The technical system is only half the challenge.

Scaling physical infrastructure also depends on installers, utilities, partners, regulation, and local execution.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

An independent concept study.

What I explored
A visual explanation of how a residential battery moves from hardware, to home backup, to a distributed network, to grid infrastructure.
Why I built it
To explore how technical product storytelling can make physical infrastructure easier to understand.
What I did
Concept, art direction and research
What is illustrative
Internal system architecture, energy flow and network relationships are illustrative. The model is not an official Base Power image, its interior is not a verified view of Base Core’s internal layout, and it uses no proprietary data.
Research connection
The story ends on local execution: installers, utilities, partners and regulation. My commercial research brief picks up that question. Read the Base Power research brief →