Forget about battery packs, kraftwerk is a fuel cell powered portable charger

With all eyes on CES 2015 in Las Vegas, we have to remember to take the time to look at all the other great innovations around the globe. This Kickstarter campaign for a pocket sized fuel cell USB portable charger is a good place to start. Introducing kraftwerk by eZelleron.

The German company building the kraftwerk fuel cell phone charger is an impressive brain trust of fuel cell and other related material sciences PhDs. As a result, the kraftwerk charger appears about as effective as can be, for portable charging.

The kraftwerk charger runs off of camping fuel or standard lighter fluid, the same stuff as that butane lighter you bought for your BBQ when the built-in piezoelectric igniter stopped working. Output is respectable, with its single USB port putting out 2W of continuous power, with a peak of 10W. That’s roughly 400mA up to 2A, if my math is right, so you may not have the best of luck trying to charge your big tablet with this thing.

As for overall capacity, or output per fueling, we’ll try to forgive them for not talking in terms we all understand here on an Android site, but they say that a single fill will charge your iPhone about 11 times.

If you have your fears about fuel cell technology, eZelleron wants to put them to rest. Not only do they say that kraftwerk is properly heat shielded and safe for indoor use, but they go on to say that it is safe to put in your pocket. They have even conformed to airline safety standards, meaning you should be able to safely travel with your new fuel cell phone charger.

Aside from all this, a portable phone charger, about the same size as any other larger portable phone charger out there, that can run for multiple charges on just a quick squirt of butane, sound pretty good to me.

The kraftwerk Kickstarter campaign is a short ways in, with 56 days remaining at the time or writing, and are just below halfway to their goal of half a million dollars. A minimum $99 pledge will score you your own kraftwerk charger when they start shipping later this year.

Are you ready to cast aside your typical battery pack in place of a fuel cell portable charger?