Update 6.2.26 12:43 PM – This article has been updated to include responses to the lawsuit from Prowse on his solar forum.
Dragonfly Energy, the Nevada-based manufacturer of Battle Born Batteries, has filed a trade libel lawsuit against YouTube creator and solar power influencer Will Prowse, alleging he made false and misleading statements about the company’s lithium batteries in a series of online videos. The lawsuit also claims Prowse failed to disclose and publicly denied a financial relationship with the company that Dragonfly says exceeded $200,000 in commissions, advertising fees, and other compensation.
Battle Born Will Prowse Lawsuit Centers on Battery Safety Claims
On his “DIY Solar Power With Will Prowse” YouTube Channel, which has 1.12 million subscribers, Prowse has published 9 videos over the past 5 months, tearing open and testing Battle Born’s sealed Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, primarily the company’s 100-amp-hour base model.
The videos focus mainly on the battery’s terminal design. Prowse argues that the battery’s internal positive terminal can create high-resistance connections that generate excessive heat under certain fault conditions. He has characterized the design as unsafe and has criticized Dragonfly’s response to his findings.
Dragonfly Disputes Will Prowse’s Battery Safety Claims
Dragonfly contends the behavior is an intentional safety feature, and that Prowse removed structural components, tested already-damaged batteries, and operated them outside their intended specifications, resulting in what it describes as a misleading portrayal of their safety and performance.
“Dragonfly Energy respects and encourages good-faith product reviews, independent testing, and open technical discussion,” said Wade Seaburg, the company’s chief commercial officer. “This lawsuit is not about silencing criticism. It is about accountability when what we believe are false and misleading safety claims are presented as technical fact.”
Battle Born batteries gained much of their early reputation among RVers through the DIY solar and boondocking community, and through promotion via social media influencers. They are one of the few brands that meet RV Industry Association standards for use in OEM applications. Many RVs that ship with lithium batteries pre-installed utilize Battle Born batteries, including Airstream, Ember, NuCamp, and Forest River’s Pause line.
Lawsuit Raises Questions About Influencer Payments and Affiliate Links
Dragonfly’s complaint further alleges that Prowse previously gave favorable reviews to the same battery products and received more than $200,000 in affiliate commissions, advertising fees, and other benefits related to Battle Born products over several years. It states that Prowse later denied having a financial relationship with the company while continuing to present himself as an independent reviewer. Dragonfly alleges that the videos in question were published after affiliate and advertising agreements between the two parties had ended and that the content included affiliate links to competing battery products.
Prowse, who operates one of YouTube’s largest channels focused on solar power systems, batteries, and off-grid energy equipment, has built a significant audience through product reviews, battery teardowns, and technical testing videos.
Prowse has publicly discussed how his channel generates revenue through sponsored reviews, consulting work, and affiliate commissions. On December 23, 2025, Prowse published a video titled “How My YouTube Channel Makes Money,” in which he explains that he does not have marketing relationships with companies but charges a flat fee for an unbiased review.
On September 9, 2025, he posted in his “DIY Solar Power” forum a detailed account of his fees for videos, stating that he charges companies $12,000 for a basic product review video, and $20,000 for multi-battery, high voltage, or battery/hybrid inverter reviews, along with large installation “how-to” videos. He says that he uses affiliate links, where influencers receive a kickback from individual product purchases, and that if a product fails miserably, he will list his own affiliate links to higher-quality products below a video.
Dragonfly Points to Battle Born Battery Safety Record
Dragonfly Energy says Battle Born batteries have been deployed in more than 400,000 applications, including RVs, marine vessels, off-grid power systems, industrial equipment, and commercial trucking. The company states that its battery products have undergone third-party certification testing and maintain a strong safety record in the field.
Dragonfly was initially slow to respond to Prowse’s claims about Battle Born batteries, which fueled owner concern and ire on social media. Months after the initial video, on April 6, 2026, Dragonfly’s CEO, Denis Phares, was interviewed by RV electricity expert Mike Sokol in RV Business Magazine. Phares stated that the core battery architecture for the 100-amp-hour first reached the market in 2016. “Since then, it’s been deployed at large scale across RV, marine, off-grid systems and in commercial applications,” Phares continued. “That long-term field use, combined with consistently low warranty rates, gives us a clear, data-backed understanding of how the design performs across a wide range of real-world conditions, environments, and installation types. At this point, the performance isn’t theoretical; it’s based on years of observed behavior in the field.”
Sokol is currently in the early stages of his own testing of Battle Born batteries, which he is chronicling on his RV Electricity Substack. He says he is trying to replicate a typical “hard-use” RV installation rather than a fast-cycle destructive test – the type Will Prowse performed.
Will Prowse Responds To Lawsuit
Dragonfly’s lawsuit seeks monetary damages as well as injunctive relief to prevent “further false and disparaging statements about its products.” The complaint, filed in Nevada state court, names William Errol Prowse IV and his company, Prowse Publications LLC, as defendants. Prowse has responded to the news of the lawsuit on his forum, stating “I’m not really worried because the batteries have so many issues and I can prove them all in court. I just don’t understand why it needs to go to court…I can’t wait to bring these burning batteries into the courtroom. Especially the one with the leaking cell.”
In another comment, Prowse continued: “What’s crazy to me is the actual issue with their batteries. The plastic holding it together. How could someone file a lawsuit with such an obvious issue? I’ll cut open a battery in a courtroom and show them everything. I can show them it doesn’t disconnect in front of their own eyes. I can do it with any battery…I even denied this issue here in the forum until someone could prove it to me, and send me a battery. And then once I burn my finger on that post I thought holy cow this is an issue! Every single post and every single thought to discover this issue is on this forum. All of my cycle testing, every time I open up a battery, everything is on camera or the data was logged. And anyone can download it. And see the data matching up with the video…I could wiggle the terminal and show the internal resistance changing. It doesn’t disconnect. It’s just crazy that this time is being wasted on such a simple design flaw. What in the world!”
