Electric vehicles have evolved tremendously in recent years, but range anxiety remains one of the most common worries potential EV adopters have.
For those who are too concerned with the prospect of ending up stranded on the side of the road in their EV, something like the equivalent to a gas can for electric vehicles would be great to have in the trunk for added peace of mind.
As it turns out, something like that exists and a company called EcoFlow is making it. We’re talking about a portable power station you can charge at home and keep it in the trunk of your EV for the time when you may run out of range.
To demonstrate how EcoFlow’s portable batteries work, YouTube influencer Ben Sullins decided to try one out on his Tesla Model S. He went for the top-of-the-range Delta Pro model (it costs a whopping $3,600) with a 3.6-kWh capacity, fully charged it, and put it in the trunk of his EV.
One day when the range readout on his Model S showed it was time to charge, Ben decided to continue driving the car until the battery pack got completely drained to see if the portable power station was able to save the day.
He drove the Model S until it shut down completely, half a mile away from his destination. He then hooked the portable battery to the vehicle’s charging port using two adapters costing a combined $50 (details are in the video description).
After about 15 minutes of charging, the portable power station had fed enough juice into the Tesla battery pack to enable the Model S to reach its destination.
The video is interesting to watch if you’re into portable power solutions, especially because it features battery expert Jehu Garcia towards the end. He talks of the many applications these power stations have and even demonstrates one of them by powering his entire shop from one.
