They’ve got a quite unusual stove that’s got a large battery in it so that it can operate when the power is off, and doesn’t need the installation of a 240v power connection. This avoids the cost of an electrical retrofit of old apartment buildings, which otherwise costs far more.

If you’ve already got your home wired for 240v, you can get an induction stove for far less.

These battery-equipped stoves are expensive right now because they’re being made in quite small numbers. The parts needed are coming down in price quite rapidly, so I expect to see them sold in the $2000/unit price range within a few years.

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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    3 days ago

    I am sorry but it is fucking hilarious how many wealthy people over the years have condescendingly told me cooking with gas is better, even as they complained about how it annoying it was to maintain a gas stove and all.

    Idiots bought into the most obviously bullshit fossil fuel propaganda ever…

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Gas is better than electric resistance stoves, which are not the same thing as these new induction stoves.

      • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
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        2 days ago

        For most of my life I’d cooked on a resistive coil-top stove, and only in the last few years was I able to use a gas, and even more recently, induction stovetop.

        Induction is far and away my favorite, but between gas and resistive, I don’t really find gas preferable to resistive. The only real advantage it has is quick heat control, but that can be overcome pretty easily on resistive stoves by either anticipating the slower heating/cooling curve, or simply lifting the pan or moving it to an inactive burner until the active one cools down to the desired temp.

        I virtually always use cast iron cookware, which makes gas’s ability to make quick temp changes less of a noticeable advantage. More noticeable to me was the disadvantage of the handles on my cookware getting super hot very quickly with gas due to how much heat escapes around the sides, and the inability to place flammable things over a pot or pan to prevent splatter (like a paper plate).

        I also really disliked the idea of potentially forgetting a burner being left on, but with the flame out. That only happened to me once, but it was quite scary to walk into a living room smelling strongly of gas. And in a kitchen without outside ventilation above the stove, the pollutants from burning gas were noticeable, especially if the oven was on.

        On my personal scale, I’d rate gas stoves at the bottom despite their slightly advantageous heat responsiveness, with resistive in the middle, and induction the best of both worlds.

        • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          Sure, but you write off the adjustments and coping mechanisms you learned to mitigate the disadvantages of resistive heating as if those are a forgone conclusion. That borders on a disingenuous argument.

          Summary to my eyes: Ackshully, resistive is better if you’re smart about it and anyone who doesn’t think this way is just not as smart as me…

          • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
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            8 hours ago

            I wrote my personal reasons for preferring resistive over gas, despite the need to learn how to use it, which I prefer due to my own perceived negatives of gas. I actually live in a house with a gas stove right now, and I’m seriously considering having the kitchen wired for 240v someday just so I can install a resistive stove, since most of the time I use a portable induction cooktop in preference to using the gas stove. I also didn’t even get into the environmental aspect of gas stoves, which is another reason I don’t like to use them.

            Calling that disingenuous and cope is… Certainly an interesting viewpoint. It would be similar to suggesting that anyone who prefers or speaks of the merits of bicycles over tricycles is disingenuous and coping due to bicycles requiring a learning period to effectively ride them, where as tricycles have no learning period (despite coming with their own advantages and disadvantages).

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        Gas is not better than electric resistance stoves for one very serious, insurmountable issue, gas stoves give off a non-trivial amount of gas into the living area they are being used in, even when kitchen hoods are used. This is not something the gas stove industry wants to have a conversation about so we don’t here in the US.

        • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          This was not, and is still is not, common knowledge. We definitely do need to spread the word on that. I only learned this within the last year or two.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          You were talking about cooking (i.e., the performance in terms of how well it delivers heat to the food), so that’s the question I answered. Gas is better than electric resistance in that respect. If you want to make a separate point about air quality that’s one thing, but you didn’t have to phrase your comments as bait.

          • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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            2 days ago

            Air quality can’t be separated from judging a stove that sits smack dab in the center in of your home.

            • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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              13 hours ago

              If you think that air quality is a built in metric to every conversation about cooking, then I think it’s you who has unrealistic expectations.

              I mean I have a naturally broader systemic view than most people and I know that just because you haven’t folded the concept of cooking into my view of a Unified Field Theory encompassing all of existence doesn’t make me smart and you dumb.

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                13 hours ago

                You are making food in an enclosed space that you are breathing in you fool. Of course it matters. I am not going to stoop to this pedantic of a level to continue to argue with you. If making food with your stove hurts your health and makes your body feel worse, it impacts the holistic experience of cooking and worse it hurts your health. Period, end of story.

                • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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                  10 hours ago

                  All of those things are subjective experiences I have not experienced. Because ventilation, cooking frequency, and myriad other factors complicate the experience.

                  So go ahead and get on your high horse and whine about pedantry.

                  Period. Exclamation! Question mark?

                  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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                    10 hours ago

                    If you have used a gas stove regularly, your health has been impacted to some degree, that is simply what the research shows.

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            2 days ago

            Why would the gas be turned on for the stove? For cooking, right?

            That means the amount of gas the other user mentioned is directly tied to the act of cooking, which is definitely pertinent to the conversation. If it were a discussion about simply the heating aspect of cooking, then you might be on to something.

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        2 days ago

        I guess the fact that they use an antiquated electrical grid system (110v) make things much harder for them to switch.

        • sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip
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          2 days ago

          Almost every American home has 240V coming in, with 2 hot wires with 120V AC exactly 180° out of phase with each other, and a neutral wire that’s supposed to be roughly ground voltage. The standard is to split the 240V into 120V for each circuit at the actual breaker panel, by feeding each normal circuit in the house one hot and one neutral wire. But setting up a particular circuit for 240V service is trivial by using both hot wires.

          And the actual distribution grid itself, before it hits the transformer that steps it down to 240V right before actual customer meters, is going to be much, much higher voltage in any country. Higher voltage means less line loss, so power lines use high voltage. That part doesn’t differ significantly between countries.

          Anyway. That’s why most American electric stoves and ovens are actually 240V.

          • Klajan@lemmy.zip
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            2 days ago

            I know that our Electric stovetop is connected to the 400v Three Phase circuit.

            So even with 240v mains power the Stove is usually connected to a circuit with the highest available power.

            But even the 240v plug in induction stovetops have plenty power for cooking.

            • sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip
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              1 day ago

              I’m curious whether voltage even matters, and what the wattage of each burner is, and what the total power max for the whole stove is.

              A typical US stove draws either 40A or 50A at 240V, so that’s a max power of about 12,000W. But each burner is usually limited to something about 5000-7500W.

              With induction, the heat is efficiently placed right into the pan, so actual performance probably matches a lower nominal power resistive stove (or gas stove).

        • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Your guess is wrong. Standard American electrical service is 220v. Our transformers are center tapped so if you measure from neutral to either of the two hots, you get 110v, and across both hots is 220v. Standard outlets are wired for 110, things like stoves, dryers, water heaters and HVAC units are wired for 220. I could go out and buy an induction range this afternoon and it would slot right in where my glass top electric range is.

          Why have Americans been slow to move away from gas stoves or to induction stoves? Well…

          1. Natural gas has remained very cheap in the United States. The United States has tremendous domestic natural gas reserves, so the pressure to move to other cooking fuels hasn’t really existed here like it did elsewhere.
          2. Earlier electric ranges, the ones with exposed coils, were legitimately inferior. They’re harder to do much other than boil water on because of how slow they are to heat and cool. They’re still seen as downmarket landlord specials today. Ceramic cooktop electrics were trendy for awhile.
          3. Early induction stoves were quite expensive, to the point of being gimmicky.
          4. Induction cooktops diddn’t work with the majority of popular American cookware. From the 60’s to the 90’s, trendy cookware such as Corningware ceramic, Pyrex borosilicate glass, Calphalon aluminum, Revereware copper jacketed stainless, and solid copper don’t work with induction stoves. In the 21st century, most pans made have been built with induction in mind, so your typical household now doesn’t have to replace their cookware along with their stove.

          None of that supports your America Bad narrative so you won’t pay attention to it though.

          • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
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            2 days ago

            Earlier electric ranges, the ones with exposed coils, were legitimately inferior. They’re harder to do much other than boil water on because of how slow they are to heat and cool. They’re still seen as downmarket landlord specials today. Ceramic cooktop electrics were trendy for awhile.

            Technology Connections made a great video that touched on resistive stoves which showed how to overcome their slower thermal responsiveness, which I’ve used for most of my life to great effect. Once you know the trick of how to use them, they’re quite easy to cook almost anything on.

    • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      I like gas for diversification of energy sources. When we had “snowpocalypse” here in Texas, I was able to stay running with a natural gas generator for some power, gas heat to stay warm and a stove to cook. The power draw would have been too high if I was electric only.

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        3 days ago

        Yeah but the “snowpocalypse” energy crisis was in large part a serious problem for people because Texas hates Texans and privatized the electricity grid leaving it brittle and unable to adapt to emergencies or changes.

        You are living in a functionally collapsed society in Texas, and if that is a reason to cook around a campfire, sure! I just think you have to contextualize that. I’ll keep using my electric stove and go find social support services in an emergency if needed because my state actually gives a shit about human beings unlike the removed that is Texas.

        If you need a gas stove to survive in Texas because the state government is constantly trying to kill you in pursuit of the deranged and cruel interests of the rich, I can’t really disagree with that in good conscience, but it is a pretty awful reason to have to buy a gas stove.

        You should leave Texas if you can.