{"id":287820,"date":"2026-07-06T08:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/287820\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T08:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:27:10","slug":"in-this-brooklyn-warehouse-stoves-are-turned-into","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/287820\/","title":{"rendered":"In this Brooklyn warehouse, stoves are turned into\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

BROOKLYN, N.Y. \u2014 When the startup Electra Research<\/a> launched four years ago, its founders set out to hook more batteries up to the electric grid. Energy storage is key to balancing the coming and going of wind and solar power, and it can help reduce strain on the electricity system during the busiest hours.<\/p>\n

But with the line to plug into the grid being very, very long, Electra opted for a\u00a0faster route: It would put batteries directly in people\u2019s homes, only with a\u00a0twist. Instead of installing whole-home backup storage, the firm would pair smaller batteries with energy-intensive appliances. The goal was to help people clean up their homes, reduce energy use \u2014 and add some useful capacity to the broader electricity system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became clear that the straightforward thing to do is to colocate a\u00a0battery with the biggest loads in the house, which are water heating, refrigeration, HVAC, and cooking,\u201d Bert Muthalaly, Electra\u2019s CEO, told me from the startup\u2019s new warehouse in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you look at it that way, there is one that people care about,\u201d he said. \u200b\u201cPeople love their stoves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Electra makes battery-powered induction stoves, which it began shipping to U.S. customers in April. The startup recently gave me a\u00a0first look at its operation on the edge of Brooklyn\u2019s Bushwick neighborhood, where the glass-fronted warehouse sits somewhere between a\u00a0pickle-packing plant and a\u00a0kitchen-supply distributor.<\/p>\n

When I\u00a0visited on a\u00a0cloudy day in late June, Alexia Avina was rewiring a\u00a0305-pound appliance to connect a\u00a0slender battery pack, which fits beneath the drawer that holds broiler trays and pans. Electra does the metalwork for its stoves in China and final assembly at the Brooklyn facility, turning them into energy-storing, Wi-Fi-enabled devices \u2014 ones that won\u2019t fill your kitchen<\/a> with harmful pollution by burning natural gas.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n Alexia Avina, pictured left, and Amelia Chan rewire a battery-powered stove on Electra’s fledgling production line. (Maria Gallucci\/Canary Media)<\/p>\n

Avina joined the team in May, having mainly worked in restaurants and as a\u00a0musician before training with Electra\u2019s engineers to outfit the stoves. \u200b\u201cIt\u2019s been cool to learn something totally different,\u201d she said later while standing next to stacks of stoves packed in cardboard boxes. \u200b\u201cIt\u2019s rare to have hands-on opportunities like\u00a0this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike many induction stoves on the market, Electra\u2019s model can plug into a\u00a0standard 120-volt outlet and draw power to charge a\u00a05-kilowatt-hour battery. The induction cooktop heats pans directly using electromagnetism<\/a>, while the oven cooks food using electric-resistance elements.<\/p>\n

Customers can choose to turn their batteries into helpful grid tools. With its software partners, Electra directs the batteries to charge up during the most beneficial times \u2014 for example, when solar power production is most abundant \u2014 and to discharge power during the grid\u2019s peak demand periods. Electra estimates its appliance uses roughly 80% less peak power than a\u00a0typical electric-resistance stove.<\/p>\n

The company now employs nearly two dozen people, eight of whom work on the Brooklyn production line. It\u2019s self-funded but declined to share financial details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BROOKLYN, N.Y. \u2014 When the startup Electra Research launched four years ago, its founders set out to hook…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-287820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}