Kraftwerk • one filling supplies energy for 11 iPhone charges

[amoergosum]

I just saw this on Kickstarter...what do you guys think about it?
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Link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...y-innovative-portable-power-plant/description

 

[uiop.]

Tailoring to a very niche market, but good for them. Seems innovative.

 

[amoergosum]

They've already reached their goal >>>

$786,182
pledged of $500,000 goal

...and still 40 days to go.

 

[ihonda]

Looks like this would be PERFECT if you were going to be hiking or something that would have you without power for days on end

 

[pocketdoc]

Agree with last post. Not practical for daily or occasional use as it is too big. Would rather have smaller pocket sized rechargeables.

 

[IrishVixen]

Definitely very interesting for emergency preparedness kits. I live in a land of earthquakes and periodic week-long power outages after ice storms, so I'm always looking for things that make dealing with that kind of event a little easier.

But I agree with others, I can't see it as a daily use device. A much more compact 3000 mAh battery for daily carrying costs around $20 on Amazon, a 15000 mAh that will give me several days' charging for travel or power outages cost me under $50 and is about the size of this one. A 5000 mAh I bought 5 years ago is still going strong--which is an advantage to using established technology that's been around a while, versus a brand new fuel cell tech that they're saying *may* have a lifespan of more than two years, but they don't know for sure.

It's something I'd pick up for emergencies...a few years down the road, once the tech has been proven and the cost comes down a bit. Meanwhile, I'll stick with regular battery packs that can be recharged with my solar panel or generator.

 

[JHUFrank]

I have to admit I thought it was a joke. I will have to research this a bit.

 

[bigjim83]

Probably a good thing to have in a emergency grab and go bag since in theory the gas canister won't go bad so there will always be a charge available.

 

[shenan1982]

There is a fundamental flaw with this concept.. they love to show it for travelers, but most travelers want these for air travel:

- anything containing gas is banned from air travel in almost every country

- you certainly can't carry on or check a gas canister

- you'd have to buy a gas canister every city you need to recharge in

- it's huge

Everywhere has power plugs. Not everywhere has "universal gas" ... not to mention you have to buy it everywhere you go. So you land in Tokyo... you have to go to the store and buy a canister... then you use 2% of the canister's gas to refill this. What's the average person going to do with the canister when they use 2% and have to get on a plane and fly out? Toss it in the garbage can. Not very environmentally friendly.

Not a good concept.