A power bank that charges in a 'flash'

Micropowerlabs created Flashpack charges in just 14 minutes, reports Tech in Asia

Young Pakistani entrepreneur Abdullah Soomro noticed a very real problem while building his first startup, a hyperlocal delivery business. His delivery riders would be on the road for several hours, constantly staying in touch with customers on their smartphones. Their phone batteries hence drained quickly, creating a situation of inconvenience. 

Abdullah, a mechanical engineer by training, didn’t think existing battery packs were a viable solution. They required hours to charge on their own. Realizing that this was a problem undoubtedly faced by others, he decided to figure things out.

Abdullah started Micropowerlabs with the aim to build a better, more efficient power bank. He was accepted at an incubation program run by the government of Chile, which gave him $35,000 as seed capital, and spent six months in the country.

What he came up with is Flashpack – a power bank that is able to charge fully in just 14 minutes. Abdullah claims he was inspired by the tech behind batteries for electric vehicles as they are capable of charging ten times faster than regular batteries. 

“I took the technology that was larger in scale, applied the same principles, and shrunk it down,” explains Abdullah.

Flashpack differs from other power banks in the sense that it doesn’t rely on micro USB slots for charging. There’s a larger, circular slot that is compatible with all PC laptop chargers. However, if anyone still wants to use a standard micro-USB charging cable, that’s also an option – but it’s slower and won’t supply the required juice for a 14-minute charge.

Flashpack is currently live on Indiegogo with a “super early bird” price of $50 + shipping.

 

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.