All Energy Australia 2026: the batteries, EV tech and smarter homes we're looking forward to seeing

What we want to find out

There will be plenty of batteries at All Energy Australia. Tall ones, small ones, and probably a few large enough to make the one in your garage look like a phone charger.

What I'm looking forward to is finding out how the next wave of energy technology makes life easier. Can the house make better use of solar without you babysitting an app? Can your car help power the home? And can manufacturers explain backup power without needing an asterisk the size of the battery?

All Energy Australia runs on 28–29 October 2026 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The organiser is advertising more than 490 suppliers and 500 speakers, with dedicated areas for EV technology, energy management and the grid. It's a business-to-business event, but the products and decisions on show will matter well beyond the exhibition hall.

Fox ESS: a closer look at the Power Cube

Fox ESS is one of the more concrete stops on the list. The organiser is already promoting its Power Cube at stand N123. Fox describes it as a modular, all-in-one storage system with integrated equipment and remote monitoring.

That packaging is worth a closer look. A neat cabinet is appealing, especially if the alternative is several separate boxes competing for garage wall space. But I'd like to see the installation process, how expansion works and how an installer reaches a component that needs replacing.

The useful demonstration would be a straightforward backup scenario: show the loads running, disconnect the grid and explain the limits. Give us the Australian configuration, the equipment required and the installed-cost considerations. That's the sort of detail people can take back to their installer.

GoodWe: more choice for homes and businesses

GoodWe looks worth allowing some time for. The organiser's recent updates flag additions to its residential ESA family, alongside commercial storage and hybrid-inverter products. Its Australian range already includes a three-phase ESA system combining the inverter, battery storage and energy management.

For homeowners, I'm interested in the choices around existing solar. How much equipment can stay? What does the proposed system back up? Can someone start with a sensible amount of storage and expand later without making the first purchase awkward?

The commercial side deserves attention too. A workshop, a supermarket and an office don't use power in the same way. I'd like to see a business case built from an actual load profile, with the tariff, installation costs and operating assumptions visible. A believable savings calculation would be more useful than another enormous capacity number.

SAJ and Sigenergy: getting the whole house working together

The exhibitor directory lists SAJ Digital Energy Australia and Sigenergy. Both are interesting because their product stories extend beyond storing spare solar: they want to coordinate more of the household's energy use.

SAJ's HS5 is a system I'd like to examine in that context. Its global material brings together storage, solar, backup and energy management, with EV integration forming part of the wider offering. That makes it a useful product to ask about, rather than a confirmed promise that every advertised capability will be available in Australia at the show.

For Sigenergy, the questions are similar: how smoothly do the battery, charger and app work together, and how much control does the owner retain? Its recent product announcements describe an expanding home-energy range, but overseas announcements aren't automatically Australian launch dates.

I'd love a demo based on an ordinary afternoon: cloudy weather, someone plugs in the car, dinner starts, and the household still wants a backup reserve overnight. Show us what the system chooses and let the owner change the plan. That's a much better explanation of smart energy than watching coloured arrows move around a screen.

Vehicle-to-grid: show us the combination that works

This is one of the programme's strongest attractions. The published agenda includes discussions about V2G readiness and customer integration, with contributors from organisations including ANU, Amber, StarCharge, Sigenergy and BYD & Denza Australia.

The possibility is exciting: the car spends plenty of time parked, and its battery could do another useful job during that time. What I want from the event is a clear path from that idea to an installation somebody can actually order.

Which car, charger and software combination? Which network and retailer arrangements? What does it cost to install? How is the car's warranty treated, and can the driver set a minimum charge for tomorrow morning?

I'd also ask exhibitors to separate exporting energy from providing power during an outage. Those are different requirements to demonstrate. If a brand can explain the complete Australian setup clearly, that's a story worth bringing back to Compare.

Smarter controls, plus the practical training behind them

The agenda includes a session examining AI home-energy management and virtual power plants, alongside Tesla Powerwall 3 technical training. That mix appeals to me: a look at where things might be heading, followed by the practical work of installing and supporting the equipment.

My test for an energy app is fairly ordinary. Can someone understand what happened yesterday, why the battery charged when it did, and how to change the settings without watching six tutorials?

I'd like to see clear answers about subscription fees, supported electricity plans, internet outages and what happens if the customer changes retailer. Automated savings are attractive. Being able to understand and control the automation matters just as much.

Sungrow is also listed as an exhibitor, making it another useful stop for comparing approaches to solar and storage. A good visit would put installation and service questions to several competing brands, rather than spending the whole day inside one company's ecosystem.

What we'd like to bring back from Melbourne

The most useful result would be clearer choices for Australian buyers: products with local support, understandable running costs and demonstrations that show where the limits are.

For our coverage, the shortlist is home batteries that are easier to install and expand, EV charging with a credible path to bidirectional use, and energy controls that reduce the work involved in owning all this equipment.

There will almost certainly be plenty of impressive hardware. The brands that explain what it does in an ordinary Australian home or business will be the ones worth spending time with.

If you're planning a visit, the organiser currently offers free registration before 13 October. Check the latest programme and entry conditions before arranging travel; sessions and speakers can change.

In the meantime, explore Compare's home-battery catalogue and EV-charger comparison to get familiar with the technology before the show.