Review: Zendure SuperBase V6400 

If you suffer from power outages, want to live off-grid, or need a way to store power from a solar panel array, a portable power station could be the answer. They can bring power anywhere you need in the home and out, from garages and backyards to building sites and camp sites. Since the grid is unprepared for the shift to renewable power, and our electricity demands and anxieties are soaring, high-capacity portable power stations are growing more popular. But Zendure's SuperBase V6400 is the largest we have tested so far.

With a 6.4-kilowatt-hour capacity, the Zendure SuperBase V6400 is an expandable, modular power storage system that charges from the mains or solar panels. It has plenty of ports and outlets to power your appliances and charge your gadgets. It is portable, thanks to motorized wheels and a telescopic handle. It also works as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). But this is an expensive device at $5,500, and if you want to increase your storage capacity, the B6400 Satellite Batteries are $4,600 apiece. 

Arriving by truck on a pallet, the Zendure SuperBase V6400 is a bulky beast measuring around 29 x 14 x 17 inches and weighing in at 130 lbs. There’s no lifting this, so you must remove the box to roll it out. Luckily, a telescopic handle, large back wheels, and smaller front wheels that rotate allow some maneuvering. And you can lock those front wheels once you have it in place. 

Setup is straightforward with the Zendure app, or you can use the physical buttons on the SuperBase V6400. There’s also a large display, with green light bars on either side lending a futuristic look. The screen gives you a breakdown of what the power station is doing, shows watts in and out, the percentage of remaining battery life, and an estimate of how long the battery will last at the current level of drain. (This fluctuates frequently as few devices draw at a fixed and steady rate.) 

Photograph: Zendure

After wrestling it into my office and connecting the SuperBase V6400 to Wi-Fi (there’s support for Bluetooth too), I realized there’s no need to struggle moving it, because it has motorized wheels. You can drive it like a remote control car using the Zendure app on your phone. The app also gives you a detailed breakdown of incoming energy from solar or grid and outgoing energy consumption. You can set a charge limit, automatic shutdown time, child lock, and a handful of other things in the app.

The Zendure SuperBase V6400 contains semi-solid-state batteries that should be good for at least 3,000 cycles and 10 years. While the lithium-ion batteries in most of our gadgets rely upon liquid electrolytes, these semi-solid-state batteries require only about half the amount of liquid. With solid electrolyte membranes that hold the liquid in place, Zendure says its batteries are safer and support much higher power density (42 percent more energy per pound). They are an affordable half-step towards solid-state batteries, which are expensive and tough to manufacture at scale.

Photograph: Zendure

The US version of the SuperBase V6400 has four 120-volt AC outlets, one 240-volt AC outlet, one TT-30 120-volt AC outlet, a car outlet, two DC5521 outlets, a 30A Anderson port, four USB-C ports (two 100 watts and two 20 watts) and two USB-A ports (12 watts each). The SuperBase V can provide 120 volts and 240 volts simultaneously (most power stations offer one or the other). The UK version I tested is slightly different in that the four AC outlets are 230 volts and 50 hertz, and there are two ZenAC outlets that can do either 230 volts and 50 hertz or 115 voltz and 60 hertz. 

To charge the SuperBase V6400, plug in to a standard power outlet in your home or use the XT90 port to hook up solar panels. You can fully charge from the mains in as little as two hours, but the fans kick in long before you reach the maximum 3,600-watt rate. If you prefer to be cautious, you can set a maximum charging rate in the app. I limited it to 1,000 watts, and it took around six hours to fully charge from 15 percent. 

Technically, you could charge it from solar panels in less than three hours (3,000-watt maximum rate), but you will need a large array and good conditions. Zendure does sell solar panels, but the SuperBase V is also compatible with panels from other manufacturers and has an MPPT (maximum power point tracking) controller.

After charging the SuperBase V6400, I trundled around the house, plugging in various devices and appliances. It powered my PC and monitors, my 65-inch TV, and my coffee machine, and it recharged a wide assortment of phones, laptops, tablets, and smaller portable chargers. The remaining time calculation is a rough approximation, but I had no issues powering different appliances and gadgets. 

The problem with using the SuperBase V6400 this way, aside from having to wheel it around, is that it heats up, and the fan is noisy (around 52 decibels). Unfortunately, that cooling fan kicks in quickly whatever you are charging; even a phone or small power bank triggers it. Wondering how much power you can expect from the V6400? Your mileage will vary. To give some idea, it ran my desktop PC, speakers, and two monitors for about 34 hours. 

Zendure via Simon Hill

Zendure mentions support for Amazon Alexa and Google Home, enabling you to issue voice commands to your SuperBase V6400. I only got the option to link Alexa in the Zendure app, and I needed some help to set up the Zendure skill, but I could not get Alexa to recognize any voice commands. I’m not sure how useful voice commands would be here anyway, and you can control the SuperBase remotely using the app on your phone. 

The SuperBase V6400 can also function as a seamless UPS, automatically switching to battery during any outage. Zendure claims the US model of SuperBase V can switch to battery power with 0 milliseconds of downtime (13 ms for other connections and models), and that seems to be accurate. But you will likely want a transfer switch installed by an electrician if you want power throughout your house. Zendure offers a Smart Home Panel with EV Outlets ($1,200) that combines a transfer switch and dock for the SuperBase V and has two EV charging ports.

As a modular system, you can add up to four B6400 satellite batteries (6.4 kWh each) to a SuperBase V6400. The design includes removable rubber strips on top to stack extra batteries securely. You can also link two SuperBase V6400s together, and with four batteries apiece, that would allow you to store up to 64 kWh. That’s enough to power your entire home for a few days or charge your EV. But even with discounts, a system like that will cost you $41,800 at the time of writing. 

For comparison, a Tesla Powerwall 2 home battery has a 13.5-kWh capacity and costs $12,850, but you can only get them with a solar panel installation (unless you buy used). You would need five to get a similar storage capacity (67.5 kWh), which comes to $46,750 with current pricing and discounts.

For off-grid RV camping, the SuperBase V6400, paired with a decent solar panel array, could work well if you have the space. Just make sure you get help loading it. After a couple of cycles using it around my home, the SuperBase V6400 performs as I'd hope. But longevity is crucial for energy storage, and only time can tell how well it performs over months and years. The standard warranty is three years, and you can extend that by a further two years by registering in the Zendure app. 

Zendure also offers a SuperBase V4600 with a 4.6-kWh capacity for $3,300. But it contains LiFePO 4, rather than semi-solid-state, batteries, and we have not tested it. If you want something more affordable and portable, try Zendure’s smaller power stations. I tested the SuperBase Pro 2000 ($1,600), which uses LiNiMnCoO2 batteries with a 2-kWh capacity. It’s much more manageable, with a telescopic handle and plenty of outlets and ports for camping trips or emergencies. Sadly, you can’t mix and match different battery types; the V6400 system only pairs with B6400 batteries. 

We are seeing a flood of portable power stations hitting the market, and we plan to test several competitors in the coming months. For now, Zendure’s slick modular system has set a high bar. For folks seeking high-capacity, scalable energy storage, the SuperBase V6400 will be hard to overlook.