For a company who is particularly proud of its battery cell technology, it only makes sense that the company also turns out devices that charge other things other than cars. We are talking about Tesla – the one company that arguably changes the way we look at electric vehicle. For the uninitiated, Tesla is not just about silent, quick accelerating, sexy cars (and now Semis too). Like many automakers before it, it also have a bunch of lifestyle products to keep loyal fans satisfied and among them is, not surprisingly, a power bank.
Simply called Powerbank, its design is unmistakably a work of art of the high-profile electric vehicle maker – thanks to the design cues of Tesla’s supercharger monument found at the Tesla Design Studio. But instead of a hulking structure, this device here is of a pocketable size of 108 x 30.5 x 23.3 mm (4.25 x 1.2 x 0.92 inches). It will not recharge your Tesla ride, obviously, but with 3,330 mAh capacity from a single 18650 cell, the same cell found on Tesla Model S and X EVs, it should be enough to charge a typical smartphone to full at least once.
It comes with USB, micro USB Apple Lightning connections, so it is as useful to Android Phone and iPhone, as it is to other small devices that are in dire need of electrons – without need for you to carry additional cables. But it is worthy to note that it only serves up 5V/1.5A max, not 2.1A and so don’t expect supercharging capability here like some of the power banks have to offer. It does have charge status indicator, though, and a very beautiful packaging, if that’s what you are into.
Like Tesla’s motor vehicles, the Tesla Power Bank is not cheap. I mean, $45 is not a lot by itself, but comparatively speaking, it is a lot pricier than, say, a 10,000 mAh variety from Xiaomi which costs $29.90. But hey, you are scoring yourself a power bank that has the same battery cell as in Tesla vehicles and on top of that, you’d be getting safety and quality with it.
In case the Powerbank piques your interest, then we think you may be interested in the desktop version, aptly called Desktop Supercharger, which is a scale model of the actual Tesla Supercharger and manufactured based on the same 3D CAD data used to make the real Supercharger. To be honest, we have no freaking idea what it does. The fact that the product page said “USB cables not included.” We are going to go out on a limp to say that it is a USB charger, a very fancy one that costs 45 bucks a pop. Anyways, we shall leave it to you to explore these two gadget accessories.
Images: Tesla.
via Engadget.
