Upp
Latest
Upp comes to the UK with the promise of hydrogen-fuelled device charging
If your smartphone dips into the red while you're out of the house, why scrabble for a portable battery when you can recharge with hydrogen? That's the sales pitch being made for the Upp, anyway. Intelligent Energy's first fuel cell charger is now available in Apple Stores across the UK, as well as on the Upp website. It gives power-hungry gadget fans a cleaner way to keep their devices topped up, but inevitably, there are some caveats. For one, the Upp charger will set you back a whopping £149, an amount that far exceeds the asking price for a handful of portable batteries. For another, the device is a little large and cumbersome; this isn't something you can just slide into a handbag or jacket pocket.
Upp is a $199 hydrogen fuel cell for USB devices that lets you fill up instead of plugging in
Hydrogen fuel cells have been helping astronauts for nearly half a century already, so it's about time they became small enough -- and cheap enough -- to be of use to everyone else. That's exactly what Intelligent Energy claims to have achieved with its the latest fuel cell system, called the "Upp." At 500 grams and with a retail price of $199, it's not meant to compete with regular lithium ion battery packs -- in fact, the Upp behaves very differently. For a start, you don't need to charge it. You just slap on a hydrogen cartridge and it's ready instantaneously. One cartridge yields around five charges for a smartphone, with each charge taking no longer than a mains USB charger would. When you're running low, an accompanying app either triggers the delivery of a new cartridge (perhaps by courier, if you've signed up to that sort of service) or directs you to the nearest store so you can exchange it. Unlike some other personal fuel cells we've seen, the Upp is a finished product that is ready for sale: the version we tried is ruggedly built and designed to work in the high temperatures of sub-Saharan Africa, where it'll initially be sold by mobile operators to customers in areas with unreliable electricity infrastructure. Check out our hands-on video to see it in action.
