Lighter fluid can fuel your phone with this portable fuel-cell charger

By Williams Pelegrin February 9, 2015

No matter what portable battery charger you look at, they all usually utilize, well, batteries. Kraftwerk is here to turn that idea on its head. It uses lighter fluid to charge your phone instead. No, this is not a joke.

Instead of using a battery, Kraftwerk opts for a fuel cell setup. In other words, it works by filling it with either standard camping gas or lighter gas. It only takes about three seconds to refuel the charger once you’ve used up the fuel. Because of its fuel cell setup, Kraftwerk avoids the main pitfall of portable battery chargers: battery charge deterioration. Of course, since its a fuel cell setup, safety is, understandably, a major concern. However, it’s apparently safe enough to be FDA-approved and you can even place it in carry-on luggage when you go on a plane ride.

Kraftwerk can handle up to 40g of gas, though the device itself weighs in at 160g. With a 40g fuel charge, Kraftwerk can charge an iPhone 11 times. Unfortunately, you’ll only find one USB port on Kraftwerk. What’s unknown is how fast Kraftwerk can charge devices. It can certainly withstand the elements, though.

This new, crazy charger comes at a cost, as you’ll have to pledge at least $100 on its Kickstarter page if you want your hands on one. Still, that’s $50 cheaper than its future retail price. Zelleron, the folks behind Kraftwerk, hope to ship the charger in February 2016, though early birds will get it this December.

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Williams Pelegrin

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…

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