Has anyone had any experience with (or even heard of) EVO batteries (in particular the ECO v5.7 battery)? My installer is recommending the battery, but I’m unable to get any info or data on the internet and am skeptical about installing unknown batteries.
He provided a spec sheet but I see I’m not able to attach it (as a new user).
Any info that anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.
Try attaching again now.
Are you getting them practically for free? If not, then why experimenting with something new and untested?
The only thing Google finds is the sister-post of this one, over on the dark side… 
There is only one reason to stray off the beaten path when it comes to batteries, and that is to save (a potentially dung-heap sized amount of) money. And then you simply ask: Is the risk worth the savings. The additional counter-point is also, if it is too cheap, there is also a reason for that.
I really don’t see a good reason to buy an item that is expected to last 10-years plus… and then not buy something that at least has search engine presence.
Unless they under R500, then ill take the chance 
Found the following battery which looks almost identical to the EVO. It seems to be a rebrand of the same battery
https://www.takealot.com/lithium-ion-5-5kw-wall-mount-battery/PLID72999701
R24k? Get outta here. There are far better options available at that price point.
Pretty much comes from the same white-label factory that makes the Hubble AM-2. Assuming as such it’s probably also using the poorly suited NMC chemistry that the Hubbles do.
Typically these unknown batteries cannot communicate with inverters. So this might or might not irritate you, because you would not be able to have the inverter manage the battery based on a State of Charge, but rather voltage (or maybe estimated SoC). Voltage being a fairly blunt tool when it comes to SoC for lithium.
The closest I can get is by searching Alibaba, I find another 5.76kWh battery with what appears to be the same LCD-with-4-buttons on the front. That suggests it is made by Hefei Sunway Solar, but if you go to their website this model does not appear to be there. And as @calypso says, the layout is very similar to a Hubble AM-2 (although, that probably means nothing, it’s common for batteries to use “standard” enclosures).
I got a hit from searching the text on the LCD display: JK48V100 LCD Monitor Operating Guide – JAKIPER BATTERY
And after doing an image search, it shows up over a dozen other batteries. Also comes up under the brand “Meritsun” and “GSL energy”. Basically it is a box with cells and some kind of BMS slapped onto it. There is absolutely nothing to go on here…
The funniest part of this whole story is if you look at the Hubble manual, they were so lazy with the diagrams they just took the standard Evo battery diagram and left out point 5 as they never specced the batteries with an LCD.
It’s that “attention to detail” that worries me …
As far as I understand it, that LCD and 4 buttons is an optional extra with the BMS that Hubble is using. A lot of other batteries seem to be using the same BMS these days (including the Freedom Won eTower), so I am not surprised that you can find the same LCD and buttons on many different battery brands.
Agree, you see this BMS everywhere when you are used the layout of the LED’s and ports.
eTower just seems to be a rebranded BSL rackmount battery.
Would I be correct in thinking that all the batteries which look similar (Hubble AM2, eTower, Evo, noname Takealot) are rebrands of the same battery or is it a case of shared cases and BMS but different battery chemicals / cells etc?
No experience with the batteries or companies.
if you look at the author of the spec sheet for the EVO battery you should get to a solar install company called synergistec that is about 2 years old. (on facebook synergistec claim BYD cells in the EVO)
Similar looking batteries also by a company SJ Andrews Electronics that appear to be in business for 10+ years and they look to have been involved “power”/UPS market for some time.
To some extent consumers should win with more competition locally but the pie is only so big.
If considering “other” batteries (excl. established names like pylontech, freedomwon, bluenova etc.) where at least there might be initial financial benefit through batteries being cheaper, the most important question might be how long has YOUR supplier been in business and what do you estimate the chances are of them being around 5 years from now to then honour warranty concerns.
@sjm I would ask the following questions from your supplier/installer
also, if there is some promise from the installer to swop the newname batteries if you are unhappy in the future - get in writing:
my 2 cents via credit card on a 3 month budget repayment…
Thanks so much for this, this is really useful.
batteries (and even inverters) are not like buying BMW or Ford etc.
There are numerous options to have batteries/inverters OEM where your branding will go on the product. (I think I counted at least 5 different “brands” for what is locally sunsynk inverters).
The problem will be to know when you are dealing with an authorised rebrand of a high quality product versus an unauthorised/unlicensed clone potentially using lower quality components - that is why trust (hope?) in the local supplier being around 5+years from now is quite important.
Don’t know if you’ve come across the Australian study on batteries? This is their website: https://batterytestcentre.com.au/
Just looking on there you’ll be able to see how vastly the performance differ over time between different brands. This relates to the BMS, chemistry etc. so not all batteries are created equal.
A link to their latest report: https://batterytestcentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Battery-Testing-Report-11-September-2021-V3.pdf
Been following this for the last couple of years - Pylons are really acing it. It’s almost time for the next report, will be interesting to see how things have changed, if at all, over the last 6 months.
