# 10x Grid Storage: How Mesh Batteries Are Revolutionizing Home Energy

- Show: [Hardware to Save a Planet](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet)
- Published: 2025-05-08
- Length: 41m
- Episode: 78
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy
- Listen: https://podcasts.fame.so/e/5nzx6q2n-making-clean-power-portable-cole-ashman

## Summary

Cole Ashman, CEO and founder of Pila Energy, explains how his company is disrupting the home energy storage market with a mesh battery system that is significantly cheaper and more accessible than traditional whole-home solutions like the Tesla Powerwall. Ashman, drawing on his experience at Tesla and Span, details the technical architecture of Pila’s 1.6 kWh batteries, which use a sub-gigahertz mesh network to coordinate power distribution and enable bi-directional energy flow in the future. He discusses the regulatory hurdles for balcony solar and distributed backup, the supply chain strategies that allow for low unit economics, and the vision of embedding these batteries into appliances and multi-tenant buildings to create a resilient, distributed grid.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=0) Introduction: Cole Ashman and Pila Energy's Vision
- [3:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=193) Ashman's Background and the Inspiration from Hurricane Katrina
- [5:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=318) Critique of Whole-Home Batteries and the 'On-Ramp' Analogy
- [10:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=624) Technology Evolution and the Case for Distributed Storage
- [17:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=1063) Product Architecture: Mesh Networking and Plug-and-Play Setup
- [24:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=1470) Regulatory Hurdles and the Future of Bi-Directional Power
- [27:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=1643) Supply Chain, Cost Optimization, and Scaling Strategy
- [37:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-05-08-10x-grid-storage-how-mesh-batteries-are-revolutionizing-home-energy#t=2272) Career Advice and Optimism for Climate Tech

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Batteries & low-power design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/batteries-and-low-power)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Connected products & IoT](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/connected-products-and-iot)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Tesla (company)
- Powerwall (product)
- Span (company)
- Sonos (product)
- Impulse (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [The rise of permissionless DERs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2026-01-29-the-rise-of-permissionless-ders) (Catalyst)
- [How Base Power plans to use its fresh $1B](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-10-09-how-base-power-plans-to-use-its-fresh-1b) (Catalyst)
- [Like a steam engine in your house](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-04-15-like-a-steam-engine-in-your-house) (The Amp Hour)
- [Unlocking the renewable energy revolution with Ramya Swaminathan of Malta Inc.](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-10-12-unlocking-the-renewable-energy-revolution-with-ramya-swaminathan-of-malta-inc) (How I Built This)
- [Road trip to the deep space network](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2017-04-17-road-trip-to-the-deep-space-network) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

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