Hubble is a South African battery brand, and many people still know it by its old name, Hubble Lithium. The company now trades as Hubble Energy. Its home range has moved on too. The AM-2 and X-101 that most people search for no longer appear among the products on Hubble's website. The current low-voltage line-up is the AM2+, AM4, AM5+, X5+, AM10+, AM16+ and Blade, plus a 12V lead-acid replacement, the S100A.
The headline feature on most of the current range is an "unlimited cycle" 10-year warranty. It is a genuinely useful promise, but it comes with conditions that every buyer should understand, and one current model does not have it. This review sets out what Hubble publishes for each battery, how the warranties work, which inverters Hubble supports, and the kind of home each battery suits. Everything here comes from Hubble's own product pages, brochures and warranty documents. We have not tested the batteries, and we have no commercial relationship with Hubble.
Key takeaways
Hubble Energy (formerly Hubble Lithium) was founded in 2020 and bought by the Bud Group in 2023. It has branches in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Gqeberha.
The AM5+, X5+, AM10+, AM16+ and Blade carry a 10-year warranty with unlimited cycles. The AM2+ is different: its warranty is 10 years or 1,500 cycles, whichever comes first.
The older AM-2 and X-101 were covered for 10 years or 3,000 cycles. At one full cycle a day, 3,000 cycles take about eight years.
On the current range, the battery must stay connected to the internet through Hubble's Cloudlink. If it stays offline after Hubble's notice period, the warranty drops to three years (five on the Blade).
The battery management system has a separate two-year warranty, the batteries are indoor-only, and you deliver the battery to a Hubble service centre for a claim.
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Hubble Energy at a glance
According to Hubble's our story page, the company started in 2020 as Hubble Lithium and was acquired by the Bud Group in 2023. Its company profile describes four South African branches offering service, repairs and training, an in-house research and development team, and distributor partnerships in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Nigeria and Uganda.
Where are Hubble batteries made? Hubble does not say on its website where its battery packs are manufactured or assembled. Its low-voltage catalogue says it uses prismatic cells "from leading manufacturers", naming BYD and CATL, and it describes its Cloudlink monitoring device as "engineered, designed and assembled in South Africa". That claim covers the Cloudlink, not the batteries. If local assembly matters to you, ask Hubble or your installer in writing. For a battery whose spec sheets name South Africa as the country of manufacture, see our Freedom Won battery review.
What is clearly local is the support. The warranty is issued by Hubble Energy (Pty) Ltd, and claims go through a Hubble service centre in South Africa.
All of them use lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) prismatic cells, according to Hubble. Hubble's product pages and brochures sometimes differ. The AM16+ product page lists 157A continuous discharge, where the brochure says 200A maximum, and the Blade page says 7kWh where the brochure says 7.2kWh. Ask for the datasheet that matches the serial number you are buying.
Usable capacity: the number Hubble doesn't state
Hubble does not publish a usable-capacity figure for its current batteries. Some brochures list 100% depth of discharge, but the same documents recommend an inverter cut-off of 49V on a battery whose operating range starts at 44.8V. In practice, the usable energy depends on how the installer sets the inverter. The warranty documents describe a "built-in reserve margin" and say the AM5+ and X5+ are rated to deliver at least 5kWh when new, the AM10+ at least 10kWh and the AM16+ at least 16kWh.
For runtime sums, ask the installer which cut-off voltage or minimum state of charge your system will use. Our guide to lithium battery lifespan and cycles explains why a shallower setting usually means a longer life.
The 5kWh batteries: AM5+ and X5+
The AM5+ and X5+ are the same 5.12kWh, 51.2V battery in two formats: the AM5+ hangs on a wall or sits on a shelf, while the X5+ fits a standard 19-inch rack. Both allow up to 100A, which is about 5.1kW at nominal voltage (our arithmetic), but Hubble recommends 30A charging to prolong battery life. The brochures say the AM5+ is compatible with the older AM-5 when an external Cloudlink is used, which helps if you are expanding an existing AM-5 bank.
AM2+
The AM2+ is the one current model without the unlimited-cycle warranty. It is a 48V battery with a 6kWh design capacity (its warranty says at least 5.5kWh when new), and its brochure gives a cycle life of about 1,500 cycles at 100% depth of discharge. That is a much lower figure than the rest of the range, and the warranty follows it (see below).
AM10+, AM16+ and Blade
The AM10+ is a 10kWh wall-mount battery with handles. The AM16+ is a 16.1kWh floor-standing unit on lockable wheels with an anti-tip design, which Hubble describes as needing no mounting. The Blade is a slim 7.2kWh wall unit, 1,125mm wide and 175mm deep, rated at 1.5C with 200A continuous discharge, a dedicated Axpert inverter port and firmware updates over the internet. For homes with heavy loads on an 8kW or larger inverter, the Blade and AM16+ have the most discharge headroom in the range.
The AM4 is a 25.6V battery for 24V systems, and the S100A is a 12.8V, 100Ah lead-acid replacement. Both are niche products. If you are replacing an old lead-acid bank, read our lithium versus lead-acid comparison first.
What happened to the Hubble AM-2 and X-101?
On 20 October 2026, Hubble's website product menus showed the AM2+, AM4, AM5+, AM10+, AM16+, X5+, Blade and S100A. The AM-2, X-100 and X-101 did not appear as products, but their warranty documents are still on Hubble's warranties page, and Hubble's inverter set-up guides still cover them.
According to Hubble's low-voltage catalogue, the X-101 was "the next generation of the popular X-100", adding CAN bus communication. The AM-2 and X-101 shared the same core numbers: 5.5kWh nominal, 48V, 116Ah rated capacity, and 105A maximum continuous charge and discharge. The AM-2 was the wall-mount version and the X-101 the rack-mount version.
If you own one, your cover is set by its own warranty document. The AM-2 warranty and X-101 warranty promise that the cells will achieve at least 10 years' service life or 3,000 charge-discharge cycles as counted by the battery management system, whichever comes first. Neither document requires an internet connection.
If someone offers you a "new" AM-2 or X-101 in 2026, it is probably old stock. The warranty starts on the date of the Hubble tax invoice, and the terms ask for a refresh charge every five to six months in storage. Ask when the battery was made and how it was stored.
The Hubble warranty: read past "unlimited cycles"
Hubble's warranty documents for the current range follow one template. These points come from the AM5+ warranty, and the X5+, AM10+, AM16+ and Blade documents use the same wording except where noted.
AM5+, X5+, AM10+, AM16+
Blade
AM2+
AM-2, X-101, AM4
Cell warranty
10 years, unlimited cycles
10 years, unlimited cycles
10 years or 1,500 cycles
10 years or 3,000 cycles
If the battery stays offline
Reduced to 3 years
Reduced to 5 years
Reduced to 3 years
No internet condition
Battery management system
2 years
2 years
2 years
2 years
Indoor only
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Which limit ends the warranty first?
For the unlimited-cycle models, it is the calendar: 10 years, provided the other conditions are met. For the cycle-limited models, daily use decides it. This is our arithmetic, assuming one full cycle a day:
AM5+, X5+, AM10+, AM16+ and Blade10 years
AM-2, X-101 and AM4 (3,000 cycles)8.2 years
AM2+ (1,500 cycles)4.1 years
Warranty years at one full cycle a day, SolarGuide calculation from Hubble warranty terms
A battery kept mostly full for backup clocks far fewer cycles, so the cycle-limited models last longer on paper in that case. The warranties say cycles are "counted by the BMS" but do not explain how partial cycles are added up, so ask Hubble if it matters to you.
Conditions every buyer should know
Stay online. The current batteries must be connected to the internet within three months of installation and stay connected. If one goes offline and is not reconnected within three months of Hubble's notice, the warranty falls to three years. The Blade document says five years, after "an extended period" offline. If your Wi-Fi is unreliable, or the battery sits where the signal is weak, plan for that before installation.
The BMS has two years. Hubble says its battery management system is designed to last more than 15 years, but gives it a standard two-year warranty, along with the probes and sensors. The 10-year promise is about the cells.
Prorated if it can't be fixed. If a battery cannot be repaired, a prorated warranty applies. The documents don't explain how the proration is calculated.
No stated end-of-warranty capacity. The unlimited-cycle documents don't say how much capacity the battery must keep to remain within warranty. Many competing warranties set a figure such as 60% or 70%. Ask Hubble how it assesses a capacity claim.
Temperature. The warranty is void if the battery management system records an internal temperature above 55°C even once, and sustained or recurring operation above 50°C also voids it.
Indoor use only. Outdoor installation voids the warranty.
Full charge every week. The installer or owner must make sure the batteries reach 100% at least once every seven days so the cell balancer can work. If you set a high minimum and never fully charge, check this with the installer.
No mixing or tinkering. Connecting a Hubble battery with non-Hubble batteries voids the warranty, as does connecting third-party devices to the RS232 or RS485 service ports.
Correct sizing and protection. A fuse or DC breaker must sit between the inverter and battery, and an incorrectly sized inverter or overcurrent draw can void the cover.
Claims. You deliver the battery to a Hubble service centre and collect it afterwards, with your invoice showing the battery serial number and a copy of the installation's electrical Certificate of Compliance. If the claim fails, you pay an assessment fee.
None of these conditions is unusual on its own. Together, they mean the installation quality and the paperwork decide whether the warranty works. Our guide to what to look for in a solar warranty explains how to compare these terms across brands.
Inverter compatibility
Hubble's batteries communicate with the inverter over CAN bus. Hubble publishes set-up guides for Solis, Victron, Deye, Sunsynk, Luxpower, Growatt, Axpert, Kodak, Synapse, Mecer, Microcare, MLT, Must and Phocos, with voltage, current and DIP-switch settings. Its Sunsynk page says Sunsynk inverters are "fully compatible with the Hubble Cloudlink and full range of batteries".
Hubble's FAQs say an inverter needs a CAN port for the battery to communicate directly. For some inverters without one, the Cloudlink can handle communication. A battery can also run on voltage settings alone with no communication. That is a fallback, not a design choice for a new system: the inverter can't see the true state of charge, and the current warranties still require the battery to be online through the Cloudlink.
If your inverter brand isn't on Hubble's guide list, get written confirmation from Hubble before you buy, because an inverter "out of the Battery usage specification" voids the warranty.
Who Hubble batteries suit
Good fit
Homes that cycle the battery every day. The unlimited-cycle warranty on the AM5+, X5+, AM10+, AM16+ and Blade removes the cycle cap that shortens many competing warranties.
Buyers who value local support. Hubble has four South African branches and its own service centres for repairs.
Owners of older Hubble batteries who want to expand. The AM5+ and AM10+ brochures mention compatibility with the AM-5 and AM-10 when an external Cloudlink is fitted. Hubble does not allow mixing with other brands.
People who want remote monitoring. Built-in Cloudlink monitoring comes with the current range.
Think twice if
You are offered an AM2+ for heavy daily cycling. Its 1,500-cycle warranty could run out in about four years of daily full cycles.
Your internet connection is unreliable. An offline battery can lose most of its warranty term.
The only space is outdoors or hot. The warranty is indoor-only with strict temperature limits.
You need the battery made in South Africa. Hubble is a South African company, but it does not say where its battery packs are assembled.
You want one company accountable for everything. Buying a battery separately can leave the battery, inverter and workmanship warranties with three different businesses.
How Hubble compares on the criteria that matter
Our home battery buyer's guide ranks batteries on criteria, not brand names. Here is how Hubble's current range measures up:
Criterion
What Hubble publishes
What to compare
Usable capacity
Nominal capacity and minimum "rated to deliver" figures; no usable kWh
Usable energy at the cut-off your installer will set
Discharge power
100A on the 5kWh models; 200A on AM10+, AM16+ and Blade
Your inverter's continuous load and surge demand
Warranty term
10 years, unlimited cycles on most models; AM2+ limited to 1,500 cycles
Cycle or throughput limits and end-of-warranty capacity
Warranty conditions
Internet connection required; BMS covered for 2 years
Monitoring and registration requirements across brands
Claim logistics
Owner delivers the battery to a Hubble service centre
Who visits the site, and who pays transport and labour
Compatibility
Set-up guides for 14 inverter brands, including Sunsynk, Deye, Solis and Victron
Written confirmation for your exact inverter model
No battery wins on every line. The right choice depends on your inverter, your installation spot and how you expect to use the battery.
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the exact model (AM5+, X5+, AM2+, AM10+, AM16+ or Blade) and the matching datasheet and warranty document;
whether it has the unlimited-cycle warranty or a cycle limit;
confirmation that Hubble supports your inverter model, with the communication settings;
the cut-off voltage or minimum state of charge, and the usable energy that leaves;
how the battery will stay connected to the internet, and who gets the offline notices;
the installation spot, and why it will stay within the indoor and temperature conditions;
the invoice showing each battery serial number; and
a copy of the electrical Certificate of Compliance, which you need for a claim.
Getting a quote through SolarGuide
SolarGuide is an independent referral partner. Alumo supplies, installs, finances and warrants the systems we refer. Alumo's advertised home packages are built around Eenovance batteries, and Alumo does not install Hubble, so a quote through us will compare a battery from Alumo's range against your needs. If you already own a Hubble battery and want to add solar or change your inverter, share the model and serial details when you ask for a quote so compatibility can be checked first.
Yes. Hubble Energy says it was previously known as Hubble Lithium. The company was founded in 2020 and acquired by the Bud Group in 2023. Warranty documents are issued by Hubble Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Has the Hubble AM-2 been discontinued?
On 20 October 2026, the AM-2 and X-101 did not appear among the products on Hubble's website, but their warranty documents were still published. The closest current models are the AM2+ and the AM5+ for wall mounting, and the X5+ for racks. Existing AM-2 and X-101 owners are covered for 10 years or 3,000 cycles, whichever comes first, under their original terms.
What does Hubble's unlimited cycle warranty cover?
On the AM5+, X5+, AM10+, AM16+ and Blade, Hubble warrants that the cells will achieve at least 10 years' service life with unlimited charge-discharge cycles. Conditions apply, including indoor installation, temperature limits, an internet connection through the Cloudlink, and a separate two-year warranty for the battery management system. The AM2+ is not included: it is covered for 10 years or 1,500 cycles.
Do Hubble batteries work with Sunsynk inverters?
Hubble says Sunsynk inverters are fully compatible with its batteries and Cloudlink, and it publishes Sunsynk set-up settings. Hubble also publishes guides for Deye, Solis, Victron, Luxpower, Growatt and other brands. Confirm your exact inverter model with Hubble or your installer.
Is SolarGuide the installer?
No. SolarGuide is an independent referral partner. Alumo supplies, installs, finances and warrants the systems. We help you compare options and get a free quote. Alumo does not install Hubble batteries, and we have no commercial relationship with Hubble. All pricing is indicative and subject to a site assessment and credit approval.
Sources and review note
Checked on 20 October 2026. Company history comes from Hubble's our story page and its company profile. Current models come from the product menus on hubbleenergy.com. Specifications are from Hubble's brochures for the AM5+, X5+, AM2+, AM10+, AM16+ and Blade, the AM16+, Blade and AM4 product pages, and Hubble's low-voltage catalogue for the AM-2, X-101 and cell suppliers. Warranty terms are from the documents on Hubble's warranties page, including the AM5+, AM2+, Blade, AM-2 and X-101 warranties. Inverter compatibility is from Hubble's Sunsynk page, its inverter guide menu and its FAQs. Alumo's battery brand comes from alumo.co.za. The kW conversion and the warranty-years figures are SolarGuide calculations from the published numbers, not product tests. We have not quoted prices, because Hubble does not publish retail prices and reseller prices change often. Hubble can contact us to correct any factual error.
SolarGuide is an independent referral partner. We help you compare options and arrange a free quote — Alumo supplies, installs, finances and warrants the systems. Pricing is indicative, sourced from Alumo’s published catalogue, and subject to a site assessment and credit approval.
