What is the best way to keep my home running during a blackout?

When there’s a blackout, you immediately think about the food in the freezer, the AC, the laundry mid-cycle, and how long before you get power back. 

Nobody wants to be in that situation, but extreme weather is making it more likely. Outages are getting longer and hitting more often, and no single device — not an EV, not a solar panel, not a home battery — can solve this problem on its own.  

For example: A home battery can keep your essentials running, but usually for about a day. Solar can keep producing energy, but only while the sun's up. An EV holds enough energy to power a home for several days, but it's also your primary mode of transportation. Lean on any single one of them, and eventually you run into its ceiling. 

What reliably keeps the lights on during outages is these energy sources working as a team in a setup called a private grid. Think of it as your home running its own small power system, with the public grid as one of the possible sources of energy it can interact with. 

So the right question isn't which device to buy. It's how to make the ones you already have — or are thinking of acquiring — coordinate with each other. 

How a private grid works during a blackout 

Picture how a real outage plays out over a couple of days with a private grid: 

• The sun comes up, and solar takes over so your battery stops draining. 
• Clouds roll in, and the home battery quietly carries the load. 
• The outage stretches into a second day, and your EV steps in with enough stored energy to keep things running. 
• The grid comes back on, and everything recharges before the next storm hits. 

No single one of them has to last the whole outage. They work together intelligently. That's what makes the lights stay on. 

Switching energy sources in a private grid 

A private grid is simply a network of sources without an intelligent navigator. That's what Ara, our flagship Home Energy Station, brings to the setup. 

No homeowner wants to stand in their garage during a storm deciding when to draw power from the car versus the battery, or flipping between three apps to figure out what's still on. 

Ara allows solar panels, home batteries, and EVs to talk to each other while considering real-time data, such as the weather, to make those handoffs for you. When the grid goes down, it prioritizes running the things you consider important, using the right source, and adjusting as the day goes on. You don't need to flip a switch or ration. 

Key takeaways 

• No single device can keep your home running through a long outage. Each one has limits, and relying on just one eventually leaves you exposed. 
• Solar, your home battery, and your EV each play a different role during a blackout. What matters is not the device itself, but how they support each other. 
• A private grid lets your home run on its own energy when the grid goes down. Instead of depending on one source, your home has multiple ways to stay powered. 
• In a private grid, these energy sources take turns carrying the load. Solar produces during the day, your battery bridges short gaps, and your EV steps in for longer outages. 
• You don’t have to manage any of this yourself. Ara makes the decisions in real time, so your home keeps running without you having to step in.