May 19

Elektromotive debuts billable charge station for electric vehicles

Posted in: charging, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, green, Today's Chili

Electric vehicles are about as far from ubiquitous as a burgeoning technology could be, but that’s not stopping Elektromotive from thinking about future profits. Said firm has just revealed what it’s calling the first-ever billable charge station for EVs, a three phase chargepoint that can supply up to 32 amps at 240V. The station itself is dubbed the Elektrobay, which is equipped with a 2-way GSM service called EBConnect; the latter enables users with specialized key fobs to simply wave their key in front of the pole, charge and be invoiced at a later time. Think PayPass, but for EV charging. We’re told that the new billing system will be installed in all 160 of the Elektrobay units in the UK, and you can bank on it being baked into all future installations — so much for free juice, huh?

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Elektromotive debuts billable charge station for electric vehicles originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 11

Grass Charging Valet doesn’t actually charge your gadgets, isn’t really grass

Posted in: charger, charging, Today's Chili

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to just toss your various gadgets into a nice little bed of grass and have them instantly recharge themselves through the magic of some WildCharger-style cordless charging technology? Of course it would. Unfortunately, this new so-called Grass Charging Valet available from Taylor Gifts won’t let you do any of that. It will, however, let you conceal your current entanglement of chargers beneath a tasteful patch of 100% faux grass, and set you back a mere $30. Hit up the link below to get your order in if you’re feeling so inclined, and look for it to start shipping next week.

[Via Red Ferret]

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Grass Charging Valet doesn’t actually charge your gadgets, isn’t really grass originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 May 2009 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 01

Thrustmaster intros T-Standee and T-Strap chargers for Nintendo DSi

Posted in: charger, charging, nintendo, Today's Chili

Looking for a new way to burn money on your DSi? How’s about a few new charging solutions from the folks at Thrustmaster? Today, both the T-Standee Charger and T-Strap Charger were introduced, with the former expected in mid-June for $12.99 and the latter checking in next month for a penny under $8. As the name implies the T-Standee is basically a charging kickstand / docking station, while the T-Strap builds a charging port right into the strap that can be connected to any powered USB socket for on-the-go recharging. Gnarly, right? Full release is after the break.

Gallery: Thrustmaster intros T-Standee and T-Strap chargers for Nintendo DSi

Continue reading Thrustmaster intros T-Standee and T-Strap chargers for Nintendo DSi

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Thrustmaster intros T-Standee and T-Strap chargers for Nintendo DSi originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 May 2009 07:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 12

MIT’s quick charging batteries could revolutionize the world, maybe

Posted in: charging, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, mit, research, Today's Chili, university

Okay, so maybe the headline is a tad on the sensational side, but seriously, this has sensational written all over it. A team of brilliant MIT engineers have conjured up a beltway of sorts that allows for “rapid transit of electrical energy through a well-known battery material,” something that could usher in smaller and lighter cells that could recharge in moments versus hours. There’s even talk that this technology could be adapted for use in automobiles, and honestly, it doesn’t take an electrical engineer to understand how rapid charge / discharge batteries could “induce lifestyle changes.” Hey, laptop battery makers — could you guys look into getting these ready to go in machines by CES 2010? That’d be swell, thanks.

[Via BBC, thanks Simon]

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MIT’s quick charging batteries could revolutionize the world, maybe originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 20

Wall charger takes one AC outlet, provides juice for five USB devices

Posted in: adapter, charger, charging, Today's Chili, usb

We’ve seen some nifty chargers in our day, but this bugger is probably one of the most practical to ever hit the market place. Rather than sending along 800 various tips to keep track of lose while traveling, this wall charger converts a single AC outlet into power for five USB devices (4 USB A female and 1 mini-USB). These days, it’s rare to find a device that can’t optionally be charged via USB, and if it can’t, let’s face it — it’s about time you threw that thing to the local thrift store. Grab one now for just $25.99.

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Wall charger takes one AC outlet, provides juice for five USB devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 18

Freeplay’s ZipCharge spotted, priced and dated

Posted in: charger, charging, mwc, mwc 2009, mwc09, mwc2009, power, Today's Chili

Freeplay‘s ZipCharge has already made its debut, but it’s showing itself once more at Mobile World Congress now that it has a definitive ship date and price. For those out of the loop, this here power stick can charge up in just ten minutes, and the supplied cable provides all sorts of tips to juice up whatever random gadget you have laying around (Palm’s Foleo notwithstanding). The device is expected to splash down on store shelves this April for around £60 ($85), and you can peek a few more hands-on shots in the read link below.

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Freeplay’s ZipCharge spotted, priced and dated originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 19

Wrist Band Portable Battery charges your phone, electrifies your look

Posted in: charger, charging, Today's Chili

There are plenty of terrible portable chargers out there, but the “Wrist Band Portable Battery” sure isn’t one of them. The name pretty much tells the whole tale — it’s a wrist band packed with a lithium-ion battery (that supposedly gets about five hours of juicing time) for charging numberless portable devices. It comes with 7 different adapters, and the totally awesomely-styled band itself has a set of LEDs which indicate the battery life remaining. It’ll cost you about $25 to get one of your own and prove once and for all that no, punk is not dead. Check out a few more pics after the break.

Continue reading Wrist Band Portable Battery charges your phone, electrifies your look

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Wrist Band Portable Battery charges your phone, electrifies your look originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 10

Palm Pre Touchstone eyes-on

Posted in: charger, charging, Features, palm, pre, Today's Chili

This isn’t a Palm-branded party favor, a paperweight, or a doorstop. Actually, sure, it could be any of those things if you really wanted it to be — but Palm’s Touchstone is mainly about charging your Pre and making sure it looks pretty while it’s getting juiced. It’s a pretty wild product (and the first accessory purchase for many a would-be Pre owner, we’d bet), so we wanted to spend a little quality time with it. We weren’t allowed to do much charging on our own, but the magnets buried in the Pre certainly seemed to do their job of keeping it glued to the base in portrait and landscape orientations. Oh, and just to validate what we know you’re thinking right now, yes: we overheard several Palm employees call it “the puck,” so you should, too.

Gallery: Palm Pre Touchstone eyes-on

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Palm Pre Touchstone eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 10

Chargepod V2 consolidates your power cords and thins your wallet

Posted in: charger, charging, Today's Chili

callpod’s adding a new version of their popular Chargepod that responds directly to some of the gripes we had with the V1 model. The Chargepod V2 has a three-sided design that charges a PC or Mac portable, three smaller devices like an iPod or camera, and a three port USB 2.0 hub for charging and syncing. Don’t worry if you’ve already dropped mad coinage on those device-specific adapters for the V1 — they’re compatible with the V2. The device’s specs make it look a bit hefty, but thankfully the design helps alleviate some of that. However, consolidation don’t come cheap — the Chargepod V2 will run you a steep $199.95.

[Via acquire]

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Chargepod V2 consolidates your power cords and thins your wallet originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 04

Brando’s 7-in-1 USB charging cable is a handheld owner’s dream come true

Posted in: cable, charging, DS, psp, Today's Chili

It’s truly heartbreaking that this gem wasn’t available for purchase back when you desperately needed a low-cost gift for that special gamer in your life, but considering how lame the chocolate box you got him / her was, there’s still reason to snap this up and slap a belated label on it. Brando’s ingenious 7-in-1 USB Charging Cable provides power for PSP, DS, DS Lite, DSi and Game Boy Advance handhelds, and all that is required is a powered USB port and $7. Oh, and the bravery to allow a cable made by Brando (or some random backwoods company in China that Brando is in cahoots with) charge hundreds of dollars worth of your gadgetry.

[Via DSFanboy]

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Brando’s 7-in-1 USB charging cable is a handheld owner’s dream come true originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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