Solar Battery Quote Template: Options Explained With AI, No Backup Promises

Build the template around the installer's own numbers: usable capacity in kWh, continuous power in kW, the circuits the battery will back up, and the savings your design software modelled with its assumptions shown. Give AI those figures to explain in plain English, forbid it to add any number or promise, and have a person check every sentence.

Battery quotes go wrong in three places that sound alike: capacity versus power, backup versus savings, and a warranty that says years when the real limit is cycles. A customer who reads "10 kWh battery" and hears "the house keeps running for 10 hours" has been promised something the quote never said. The sections below fix each place in the template, then show how to brief AI so that it explains without adding.

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Capacity, power and what usable means on a data sheet

Two numbers describe a battery, and customers mix them up. Capacity, in kilowatt-hours (kWh), is the size of the tank: how much energy it holds. Power, in kilowatts (kW), is the width of the tap: how much it can supply at one moment. A big tank behind a narrow tap can run a router for a day but not a kettle and a microwave together.

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Data sheets add detail that belongs in the quote. One manufacturer's published page for a 5 kWh battery module lists 5.0 kWh of usable energy, 3.84 kW of continuous power and a peak of 7.68 kW for 3 seconds, and says the module can provide backup when installed with a system controller. The peak figure lasts seconds, so it helps with short surges such as a pump starting, and it is not a rating you can run loads at. A technical note from the same maker adds that its usable figure includes a few per cent held back to protect the battery, and that the battery stops supporting loads at a shutdown level. Definitions differ between makers, so quote the figures for the exact model and say what the maker means by usable.

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Backup is a list of circuits, not a promise

Whether a battery gives power in an outage depends on how the whole system is installed, not on the battery alone. The data page above says its module can provide backup when installed with a particular controller, and that is the pattern to copy: the quote needs a backup section that names the equipment and the circuits, in a table the customer can read and tick.

Here is a filled-in circuit list for three illustrative options. The draws are example figures; replace them with nameplate ratings or measured values for the actual home.

The five essentials add up to 540 W, or 0.54 kW. Options A and B have a continuous rating of 2.5 kW in this example, and a kettle on top of the essentials needs 2.54 kW, just over the limit, which is why the kitchen sockets are left out of them. Option C is rated at 5 kW. Essentials plus kettle plus microwave come to 3.74 kW, comfortably inside it. The cooker, at up to 6 kW, is outside every option, and the quote should say so in words.

Now the run-time sum. Usable kWh divided by average kW gives hours, before losses. A 10 kWh battery at 0.54 kW gives about 18.5 hours (10 divided by 0.54), and a 5 kWh battery about 9.3. The same battery at heavier loads falls quickly:

Three things shorten those hours. The first is the charge when the outage starts: if the battery is set to hold 30 per cent in reserve for outages and daily use has already run it down to that level, only 3 kWh of a 10 kWh battery remains, and 3 divided by 0.54 is about 5.6 hours. The second is loads switched on together. The third is whether the sun can recharge the battery during the outage, which depends on how the array and inverter are configured and on the weather. Conversion losses and the shutdown level take a further slice, so ask your design tool for its own run-time figures and use the simple sum only as a cross-check.

Here is how a missing kilowatt line turns into a complaint, as an illustration. A quote says "Option B, 10 kWh battery with backup". At the first outage the customer switches on the electric cooker, which draws far more than the battery's continuous rating, and the system trips. The quote never said the cooker was excluded and never printed the kW figure. Both lines now sit in the template.

Cycling: the warranty line that quietly caps the battery's life

A cycle is one full charge and discharge of the battery's capacity. A battery used every day to cut the bill builds up roughly a cycle a day, and a backup-only battery builds up very few. Warranties care about this. The warranty document I read for this tutorial ends cover at the earliest of three limits: a number of years, a number of discharged cycles and an energy-throughput figure per kWh of rated capacity. It guaranteed a minimum share of the rated capacity only while temperature limits were respected. Your manufacturer's wording will differ, which is why the template copies the limits from the warranty itself and never from memory.

The arithmetic shows why the daily-use pattern matters. Suppose an illustrative warranty runs for 10 years or 30 MWh of throughput, whichever comes first, on a 10 kWh battery.

Two customers, one battery, two different warranty lives, and neither sees it unless the quote says so. The line in the template is a three-row table of the limits copied from the warranty, followed by one sentence: "On your modelled use of [x] kWh a day through the battery, the throughput limit is reached after about [y] years." Your model should give the daily throughput. If it does not, get that figure before writing the sentence.

Savings: show the model's inputs, not a headline

One rule governs this part of the template: savings figures come from your design or proposal software and nowhere else. An AI assistant cannot see the customer's tariff or usage, so any saving it states is a guess in a confident voice. Its job is to restate the model's output and put the assumptions beside it. For help choosing that software, the tutorial on what design software does and does not do sets out its limits.

Under the table goes one sentence: "Modelled using the inputs above. Your actual saving depends on your usage, your tariff and your battery settings, and is not guaranteed." If your software also gives a payback figure, do the sum yourself first. At an illustrative installed price of $9,600, $9,600 divided by $530 is about 18.1 years. A number like that does not forbid the sale. It tells you what the battery is mainly for: if the customer asked for backup, say so, and lead with the circuits and the hours. Show the sum with its assumptions or leave it out. Do not swap in a friendlier one.

The plain-English comparison table a customer can read in a minute

This is the page the customer will actually read. Every cell is either a data-sheet figure, a circuit list from the design, or a modelled number. The prices and savings are illustrative.

The last row does the most work, because that is where backup promises get corrected. The price-per-kWh row is a like-for-like yardstick, and it can mislead in the other direction: a customer who only wants fridge and lights through a short outage may be best served by the smallest option, however poor its price per kWh looks.

A prompt that locks the numbers, and what comes back

Keep the template and these rules in a ChatGPT Project or a Claude Project, so every draft starts from the same instructions. Paste the data yourself from the data sheet and the model. Never let the assistant look up a specification, because it may blend two models' figures.

You are drafting the explanation section of a home battery quote for an installer. The customer is not technical.
Use ONLY the figures in the DATA block. Do not look anything up, estimate, round or add a number.
If a figure you need is missing, write "to be confirmed" and list it at the end.
Never use: whole-home, blackout-proof, never lose power, off-grid, guaranteed, pays for itself, free electricity,
lifetime, maintenance-free, completely, fully.
For each option write: one paragraph of at most 70 words; a line starting "It will not:"; and a line starting
"Backup:" that names the circuits and gives hours at the stated load, from full charge, before losses.
Any savings sentence must say "modelled", give the year-one figure and point to the assumptions table.
Finish with a list of every number you used and the DATA line it came from.
DATA
Option B: usable 10 kWh; continuous 2.5 kW; circuits: essentials list (0.54 kW average);
installed price $9,600; modelled year-one saving $530; warranty: 10 years or 30 MWh throughput;
backup equipment: [controller name from data sheet].
ASSUMPTIONS (copy exactly): [paste the model inputs table]

Loosen the prompt and the reply drifts into sales copy, as in this illustration:

Option B: 10 kWh battery. Keeps your whole home running for up to 18 hours in a blackout. Saves around $530 a year and pays for itself in under 10 years. Backed by a 10-year guarantee, so you're covered for a decade.

Read it slowly and it contradicts your data five times. "Whole home" contradicts the circuit list. "Up to 18 hours" drops the 0.54 kW load, the full-charge condition and the losses. "Saves around $530" loses the word modelled and the assumptions. "Pays for itself in under 10 years" is invented, and the sum is about 18 years. "10-year guarantee" ignores the 30 MWh throughput limit, which ends the cover first for a customer who uses the battery fully every day. Send those five points back as one correction and regenerate from the data block alone. The locked prompt prevents most of them, but not all, which is why the review below stays in the process.

Words the quote must not contain, and a second-pass scan

After the draft, run a second pass in a fresh chat, so the assistant is not marking its own homework:

Below are a DATA block and a draft quote section. List every sentence that contains a number, a duration,
the words backup, save, saving, warranty, guarantee or lifetime. For each, write SUPPORTED if the same figure
appears in the DATA block with the same unit and conditions, otherwise write NOT SUPPORTED and say what is missing.
Do not rewrite anything.
DATA: [paste]
DRAFT: [paste]

Treat NOT SUPPORTED as a to-do list, not a verdict, and check the SUPPORTED lines against the data sheet as well, since the scan can be wrong.

Four customer questions that tempt a promise

Quotes get read, then customers ask questions in the follow-up call or email. Draft the answers once so a keen salesperson does not improvise a promise. Fill the brackets from your own data.

"Will it run my house through a three-day outage?"

It is designed to run [the listed circuits] at [x] kW. At that load a full battery lasts about [y] hours. Over three days it would need recharging, which depends on the weather and on how the system is configured, so I can't promise three days. If long outages matter most to you, we can price a larger option or look at other ways to cover the gaps.

"How much will I save?"

Our model gives $[x] in the first year using the inputs on page [n], including your last 12 months of usage and the tariff as at [date]. If your usage or tariff changes, the figure changes. I'm happy to walk through each input with you.

"Can I go off-grid?"

This is a grid-connected design with backup for the circuits we've listed. A system built to run without the grid is a different design and a different price, and I'd want to size it from your full usage before saying whether it makes sense.

"Will it last 25 years?"

The warranty covers [terms from the warranty]. I can't tell you how long it will last beyond those limits, and I'd rather give you the written terms than a guess.

Check the draft against the data sheet before it goes out

1. Every kWh and kW figure appears in the data sheet for the exact model, with the same unit.
2. The circuits in the backup table match the design drawing, and the cooker, EV charger and any other heavy load are named as included or excluded.
3. Every run-time figure repeats the sum (kWh divided by kW), says "from full charge", and says "before losses" unless your tool has included them.
4. The warranty table copies all the limits from the warranty document, and the year the throughput limit is reached is worked out from the modelled daily use.
5. Every savings figure is labelled modelled, sits next to the assumptions table, and matches the model output exactly.
6. The exclusions say what the price does not include. Lines worth confirming either way include any upgrade to the main electrical panel, extra protected-circuit wiring, cable runs, approvals, inspection fees and any monitoring subscription.
7. The quote carries a validity date and says what happens if the site survey changes the design.
8. A named person signs the final text. The assistant drafts and a person is accountable.

Once quotes are going out, keep a tally of the questions customers ask about them. A question that comes up three times is a gap in the template, so answer it in the quote and not on the phone. For the cover letter and FAQ that travel with the quote, the tutorial on AI-written cover letters and FAQs in solar proposal software covers the next step. The same no-promises discipline for another product is worked through in the heat pump quote tutorial, and the site survey notes that feed your circuit list are covered in the solar site survey checklist. Last, the installer's own workmanship cover is a separate promise from the manufacturer's warranty, and the workmanship warranty template shows how to word it without overreaching.

Questions installers ask about AI and battery quotes

Can AI work out a customer's savings?

It can restate figures from your design software, but it should not calculate them. Savings depend on tariffs, usage and battery settings that only your model holds, and an assistant without that data will guess. Paste the model's outputs and assumptions into the prompt, let AI explain them, then check that every number matches the model.

Do I need to print the warranty limits in the quote?

Yes, in plain words: the term in years, any cycle or throughput limit, and any retained-capacity guarantee with its conditions. Customers read warranty as years only. A short table of the limits, plus the year the throughput limit is reached on their modelled use, prevents an argument years later.

How do I describe backup when the system is not set up for it?

Say so in the options table: this option does not provide power during a grid outage. A battery alone does not always give backup, because that depends on the equipment and wiring installed with it. Putting the statement in the table, not the small print, protects both you and the customer.

Is it safe to paste a customer's bills into an AI tool?

Paste only what the model needs, such as usage totals and tariff rates, and remove names, addresses, account and meter numbers first. Check the tool's data settings and your own privacy notice before using any customer data, and keep the original bills in your customer system rather than in a chat history.

Further reads

• AI Solar Design Software Compared: Cost per Proposal for Small Installers — Compare design software that produces the modelled figures.
• Solar Installer Software: CRM, Design and Tracking, and Where AI Helps — See where quotes sit among CRM, design and project tools.
• Solar AI Chatbot for Installers: Qualify Leads by Bill, Roof and Shade — Qualify battery enquiries by bill, roof and shade first.
• Solar Permit Application: Can AI Draft It? What Installers Must Verify — Check what an installer must verify before drafting permit text.
• Can AI Write a Solar Sales Script? Discovery Questions and Objections — Prepare honest answers to the questions that tempt promises.
• AI for Solar Installation: Five Jobs a Small Installer Can Automate — Pick the next job worth automating after quotes.
• Solar Installer Marketing: Local Pages and Case Studies Written With AI — Fact-sheet templates, prompts and claim checks for AI-drafted town pages and install case studies a solar installer can publish with confidence.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: a battery manufacturer's published data page and technical note on usable capacity, power and backup wording, and a manufacturer's limited warranty document for how warranty limits are structured. All figures in the examples are illustrations.