What People Searched For in 2026: Battery Backup Up, EV Chargers Down

The short version

Between July 15 and October 17, 2026, Google search interest in "battery backup" was higher than in the same weeks of 2025 in all six states we checked, from 19% higher in Florida to 82% higher in New Jersey. Interest in "solar panels" rose in all six as well. Interest in "EV charger" fell in five of them.

These are measures of relative search interest, not of search volume, sales or demand. The method and its limits are set out below.

The data

Change in Google Trends interest, July 15 to October 17, 2026, against July 15 to October 17, 2025:

n/a: we did not compare "heat pump" in that state. For "EV charger", the five states that fell were down between 5% and 19%. We report the range rather than a figure for each state.

What else people were searching

• Nationally, the fastest-rising related query in our 2026 pull was "why is my electric bill so high all of a sudden 2026", up 4,150%.
• In New Jersey, Google Trends listed "ways to save on electric bill" as a Breakout query, its label for the fastest-growing related searches.
• In New York, "commercial battery storage" was a rising query, up 110% over the 12 months to October 17, 2026.

How to read it

Two patterns stand out.

Bills first, then batteries. The fastest-growing questions were about electric bills, and the fastest-growing equipment term was battery backup. People appear to be looking for ways to control what they pay and to keep the power on, more than for new loads.

Storage, not chargers. Interest in EV chargers fell across the Northeast while interest in batteries rose. For a property owner, that does not mean chargers are a bad idea. It does mean residents and tenants are asking about other things first.

For commercial and multifamily owners, the question behind both patterns is the same: what is on the bill, and can storage change it? In most commercial tariffs the answer starts with demand charges. In Connecticut it also includes Energy Storage Solutions performance payments. In New York City, storage can now count toward Local Law 97 deductions.

Method

• Source: Google Trends (trends.google.com), pulled by NOI on October 17, 2026.
• Windows: July 15 to October 17, 2026, against July 15 to October 17, 2025.
• Measure: the change in Google's relative interest index between the two windows. Google scales each query set from 0 to 100 within its own date range and region, so the index shows direction and size of change, not the number of searches.
• States: each state was pulled as its own query set. Figures are comparable within a state, not across states. A higher number in New Jersey than in Florida does not mean more people searched in New Jersey.
• Rising and Breakout queries: as labeled by Google Trends in the related-queries panel for the stated window.

What we left out

Search interest in "home battery" spiked between March and June 2026. The related queries showed that spike came from shopping for unrelated products, not home energy storage, so we excluded that term.

Caveats

• Relative interest is not volume. A large percentage change on a small base can mean few searches.
• Searches come from everyone: homeowners, renters, students and businesses. They are not a survey of property owners.
• Thirteen weeks is a short window. Weather, outages and news events move search interest.

If you own a commercial or multifamily property

Battery storage is worth modeling when the bill has a demand charge, when a state pays for dispatch, or when a building needs backup for common areas. The first step is twelve months of bills. Send them to us and we will tell you whether a battery case exists at your property.

Data pulled October 17, 2026. Article reviewed October 19, 2026.

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