Game Changer – The First Graphene Power Bank Slashes Recharging Times

how much do they weigh?

For some reason they don’t seem to specify the weight on the webpage.  I’ve emailed them and will post when they reply.

Comparing them by eyeball to the comparable Ankers, the cases look more heavy duty. I’d expect them to weigh a bit more but probably not enough to be a deal-breaker. When I’m on the trail I like to minimise time in town, so I’d happily carry few extra grams for the convenience.

Hopefully they’ll be available in Europe soon. But considering the importance of the product, this seems to be a soft-launch. I suspect that the production facilities for this type of technology are limited and they don’t want to get overwhelmed.

For content creators who are carrying serious cameras, drones etc and vlogging on the trail, the 20,000 version could make a huge difference – at the moment they are pretty much forced to spend a night in accomodation each week to recharge. Even for modest power users like me it would make life a lot easier on a thru-hike – you could even recharge the 10,000 power bank over a coffee in a cafe and get back on trail.

I feel like I should know more about that technology seeing as how I’ll be signing a check to Tesla for a $38M battery bank, but what intrigues me most about fast-charging chemical batteries is if they might fill that niche of the long-hoped-but-for-never-realized, super capacitors.  For hybrid cars, EVs, utility-scale storage, if 10-20% of your battery bank could charge / discharge rapidly, the whole assembly would be far more flexible and efficient.

David

I wish I had your kind of budget to play with!

I’m far from an expert,  but my understanding is that the graphene is used in a hybrid graphene/lithium battery to help distribute the heat during charging which enables more wattage to be used safely.

I don’t think it changes the discharge characteristics. So this is more of an (admittedly large) incremental improvement to an existing technology than some kind of major breakthrough.

For utility scale batteries, you might want to check out the work of Prof Sadoway and his team at MIT – they have a breakthrough liquid metal battery that could redefine the role of intermittent renewables:

https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_sadoway_the_missing_link_to_renewable_energy?language=en

https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_sadoway_the_missing_link_to_renewable_energy?language=en

That’s not going to be my personal check!

Funny story – the utility president before me was in Florida on vacation, needed some cash, didn’t have his ATM card, but saw a Wells Fargo bank.  He went in, wearing shorts and flip-flops, got a counter check, showed his ID, and asked for his account number.

“Here you go, Mr. Fry.  Your available balance is $7,417,225.67”.

“No!  Do not take it from THAT account!”

The nature of a utility is you go with proven technology that comes with a 30-year warranty.  It might be fairly recently proven, but tidal power and other research-level cutting-edge tech?  One can bleed a lot on the cutting edge.

The 30 year perspective is very understandable when you’re signing those huge cheques, but I think Prof Sadoway’s technology has a fighting chance. He focused on finding a simple solution using inexpensive materials. It has no moving parts, and doesn’t need sophisticated controls.

Like the graphene hybrid battery I was posting about this is moving out of the lab and into the commercial realm. They certainly make a strong case for the technology for anyone who needs large-scale energy storage:

https://ambri.com/technology/

I strongly recommend the TED talk – Sadoway is an inspiring speaker.

To get back on topic, here’s a review of the 10,000 mAh powerbank. I meant to include it in my initial post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=uIMegpibt1M&feature=emb_logo

According to the Amazon ad, the 10,000 mAh version is 10.2 oz.

The 20,000 mAh type is 15.8 oz

$26 Anker PowerCore 10000 180 grams / 6.3 ounces

$43 Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 343 grams / 12.1 ounces

I know they’re slower with fewer features, but this is BPL.

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I’ll wait for more reviews on these graphene batteries. A few comments anyway.

– Wireless charging in the 10,000 mAh model adds weight not needed by backpackers. Wired charging over quality cables will always be more efficient, and can be done for ~7 grams. Looks like the 20,000 mAh G-Max model does not include wireless charging.

– Faster charging (60 to 87 watts) could mean more heat generated, depending on charging efficiency. You might be able to charge up in 50 minutes, but can you fry an egg on it?

– Similarly discharging, i.e. charging another device. How much energy is lost during discharge, before it gets to your phone, inReach, or headlamp?

– Battery fires? Might take a few years to find out if graphene batteries go through the same learning curve as lithium batteries. Yes, they claim graphene has lower resistance and cools better, but lithium battery makers thought they had it figured out, until they didn’t.

– Just wait until they release their 10,000 mAh 100 watt system in “early 2020.”

– Have you seen the rats nest of chargers and devices at popular resupply stops? In the USA, a bunch of backpackers pulling 100 watts simultaneously could pop circuit breakers or smoke fuses, depending on what else is on that circuit.

These graphene batteries could be a “game changer” for many uses, but not a big improvement over lithium batteries for backpackers. Particularly at 2x-3x the cost and higher weight.

We’ll see.

— Rex

Rex

You might be able to charge up in 50 minutes, but can you fry an egg on it?

This isn’t a pure graphene battery – they are still in the lab. This is a graphene/lithium hybrid. The whole point of the graphene is to mitigate heating issues – they are claimed to be significantly cooler and safer than current fast chargers.

According to the review I posted, discharge efficiency is the same as a conventional lithium battery – the graphene doesn’t have any impact on discharge.

When you consider the price – first it’s bleeding edge which always costs a bit more, and secondly it’s claimed to have 5x the life.

I agree that the wireless charging costs a bit in weight and isn’t much of a plus for hikers.

But how you can say that a recharge of the 20k in 1.5 hours vs north of 10 hours isn’t relevant to hikers escapes me. Even for the 10k the time saving is pretty significant.

Oh – and your point about power outlets being overstressed doesn’t really hold up.

Yes, the draw will be greater, but for a shorter time. So the overall demand on recharging outlets will remain the same. On average, you would have fewer powerbanks charging, but drawing a higher wattage for the shorter time they are plugged in. Same difference.

“But how you can say that a recharge of the 20k in 1.5 hours vs north of 10 hours isn’t relevant to hikers escapes me.”

Very relevant if you need to recharge in town during a trip. Weekend to week-long trippers who charge at home  – much less important, especially with a cost and weight penalty. Lots more of them than thru-hikers.

“According to the review I posted, discharge efficiency is the same as a conventional lithium battery.”

The only relevant quote from the review:

In the discharge, we’re still looking at the same rules that apply to all battery packs.

Nice assumption, where’s the data?

“claimed to have 5x the life.”

Nice claim. We’ll see.

For new products and especially new technology, I’m very skeptical until data shows otherwise. BTDT too many times.

Recharging: Thru-hikers frequently travel in packs and all want to recharge at the same time. So it can be a problem.

— Rex

Rex

Clearly, if you don’t need to recharge on your trip, you wouldn’t need to be investing in fast recharging.

I did say explicitly in my initial post that this technology would be of interest to anyone who needs to recharge on the trail.

As for the efficiency in recharging  your devices, the reviewer did do a practical test with a couple of phones and reported a similar result to a conventional lithium power pack on the same phones. There is no theoretical reason why discharge should be any different, so this was not surprising.

BUT – I’ve since discovered an Amazon page with reviews – for some reason it didn’t show up on my searches – perhaps because they are out of stock.

The reviews suggest that the product has some reliability issues, so probably not ready for prime-time yet.

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B07W6JW72V/ref=acr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar

This is a fast developing field with competing products already out there. Hopefully before my next thru-hike we’ll see a proven and reliable product with a pared down weight.  Because for someone like me who likes to minimise time in towns, this is a game-changer.

Ask my son who is a electrical engineer if he was acquainted with this technology.

His reply, “First introduced to graphene for use in batteries in Taiwan about 12 years ago.  I saw this video when it first came out.  This guy doesn’t really do much teaching or explaining of the technology, just an advertisement for how quick this thing charges.  It would be good to investigate the pros and cons of this technology and see if it is going to be the wave of the future.  Graphene is pretty dangerous stuff when it come to the raw product.  It is so small an so strong that it can get into you really easy.  I suspect that it is just about as dangerous as asbestos in raw dry powder form. But graphene is going to be an important material in the future.”

>”It is so small an so strong that it can get into you really easy. ”

The environmental engineering firm I work with has bid on clean up of jet fighter planes – when they crater into the ground, many acres are contaminated with nano-fiber waste.

When you are on the trail fast charging is rarely the issue.  Weight/capacity is the name of the game.  If they had cut weight in half while tripling the charging time I would be all in for three of these.  As things stnad they have doubled the weight.  Thanks but no thanks.  At least not for hiking applications.

I agree that fast-charging may be lower on the list of considerations for a charger. For thru-hikers, if they have the occasional resupply in a private room, they have all night for charging, but for others, just getting any outlet time can be a problem. There is the question of a non-standard fast-charger unit, both its weight and the need to carry one vs depending on increasingly available USB. For longer trips or where resupply is more difficult, I would carry greater capacity or use a solar top-off system vs opting for a heavier, less capacious fast charger. There probably are a few scenarios where it could be useful, but much less so if it is heavier than standard fare.

The faster charging units are heavier partly due to their more complicated bms and features to dissipate that heat (metal construction in part)?

I just got a message from Real Graphene USA:

“Our 10,000 mah model weighs about 300 grams.”

300 grams = 10.5 ounces

I just got a 13,000 Anker – 8.5 ounces

I had an older 10,000 that weighed 8.5 ounces.  Older ones weigh a little more.  I found with the phone, sometimes 10,000 was a little low so I got a bigger one, same weight

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Newer 10k Ankers are at 6.5 oz</p>