A British startup called ZipCharge has developed a portable charging system for EV owners and drivers to help address range anxiety while they are out and about.
The company’s ZipCharge Go charging station, which recently won a British Engineering Excellence Award, is essentially a large portable battery with a retracting handle and wheels that’s roughly the same size as a carry-on suitcase. The company says the charging unit can add 20-60 miles of range to an EV’s battery from a 30-60 minute charge. It will be sold in both 4 kWh and 8 kWh versions, however it has yet to provide further details on each of these models.
ZipCharge is planning to accept pre-orders for the Go charging station through its website later this year. Interested parties can register to receive updates on the product’s arrival through the company’s web page now. While pricing has not yet been divulged, ZipCharge has said it wants the cost to be comparable to that of a 7.2 kWh home charging port, which typically retail for around $1,000 USD. Deliveries of the unit will commence in 2023.
The obvious criticism of the ZipChargeGo is that it’s not capable of adding very much range to the vehicle’s battery. While this is a valid critique, this product is being marketed as a backup solution for EV drivers in the city that may be unable to locate an unoccupied charging station nearby. It’s true that 20 miles of additional driving range won’t make much of a difference in the suburbs or rural areas, but it can go quite far in the city. The charging pack’s small size also makes it better suited to compact EVs like the Chevy Bolt EUV, rather than larger ones like the GMC Hummer EV.
It’s not clear what security measures have been put in place to prevent theft of the Go charging unit while it is sat on the ground next to the vehicle it’s charging. This will be a fairly expensive product, though, so we imagine the engineering team at ZipCharge has figured out some sort of solution.
ZipCharge Co-founder Richie Sibal says the unit has been engineered to OEM standards and is designed to be robust and reliable.
“Our customers will expect their EV power bank to be as robust and hardwearing as their vehicle, so we have implemented exhaustive automotive industry testing standards to the unit, the electronics and the software. We’re highly confident it will work perfectly wherever they park their EVs”.Sibal said.
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Comments
So it’s an electronic jerry can?
You are NOT the real h4cksaw he has called you out so many times already. You are a clown and a coward, a coward clown, for continuing to post under other peoples names. The administrators of this website will delete your comment soon I am sure. The amount you keep doing this tells me you’re triggered and upset, that you’re seething mad. I, meanwhile, am cool calm and collected. Mr. Cool they call me. I am not mad, do not put in the newspaper that I got mad.
Or just avoid the anxiety and drive an internal combustion engine vehicle and pull into a Gasoline Station. Top off your tank for $100 and be on your way.
That would be useful if you are stranded or just need a little more around town.
It does not help for a long driving trip.
Where you put the gas?
a tow would be cheaper than this.
How much does it weigh? How much room will it need in the trunk?
Uh, it’s just another battery, how high tech is that??
So if you pull a trailer full of batteries around with you, you can go anywhere a gas car can go? I’ll keep my gas car.
Use the trailer for your gas powered generator. However, towing companies can use it for stranded EV’s with a depleted battery charge.
While you have it stored in the rear of the compact SUV, it becomes a battering ram in a unfortunate front end collision. If it’s full of batteries, it has to be fairly heavy.
Unfortunately I can add 400 miles in 15 minutes at the gas pump ! They have to
speed up full recharge times somehow !
Let’s not forget the fire issue.