Compare discounted battery and generator backup costs for equal load and service hours across three usage cases.
Confirm that each option can meet starting surge and continuous power. Battery cycle life, generator part-load fuel use, noise, emissions, fuel delivery, outages and residual value are not monetized. Trust level: engineering estimate; verify site and equipment assumptions before purchase or installation.
| Scenario | Battery cost | Generator cost | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | ₹3,63,546.95 | ₹2,89,484.38 | ₹74,062.57 generator advantage |
| Expected | ₹3,68,318.56 | ₹3,23,435.31 | ₹44,883.25 generator advantage |
| Optimistic | ₹3,73,090.18 | ₹3,57,386.25 | ₹15,703.93 generator advantage |
Method: compare discounted upfront, energy or fuel, maintenance and entered replacement costs for equal backup hours
Inputs used: Load 2 kW × 200 hours/year for 10 years
Assumptions: Both options serve the same entered load and annual hours Battery round-trip efficiency Generator fuel use at the modelled load
Scope and warnings: Confirm that each option can meet starting surge and continuous power. Battery cycle life, generator part-load fuel use, noise, emissions, fuel delivery, outages and residual value are not monetized.
U.S. Department of Energy · United States government educational resource; technology concepts are broadly applicable · effective As published · reviewed 2026-09-12
high confidence · Engineering estimate
Supports the distinction between power, energy and storage-system limitations.
Exclusions: Not a product-sizing recommendation or outage-resilience guarantee.
Both paths serve the same entered kW and annual backup hours. Battery cost includes upfront price, charging energy adjusted for round-trip efficiency, maintenance and an optional replacement. Generator cost includes upfront price, fuel use, fuel escalation and maintenance.
A 2 kW load used for 200 backup hours needs 400 kWh of delivered energy each year. The battery path buys more charging energy because efficiency is below 100%; the generator path uses entered litres per hour rather than an assumed generic fuel curve.
It does not value noise, emissions, fuel delivery, outage duration risk, battery cycle life, residual value or part-load generator efficiency. Confirm both options can supply continuous and starting power before comparing cost.
Calculations run on your device. Review your results before exporting or sharing them.
Enter generator fuel consumption at the load being compared, not only the nameplate full-load value. For batteries, confirm usable energy, continuous inverter power and surge separately; this page models annual delivered energy and cost.
The scenario spread changes backup hours for both options. Battery replacement timing and generator maintenance remain as entered. Test additional cases when outages are irregular or a critical load has a high cost of interruption.
Published by ToolMitra — methods and editorial approach.