Sanyo’s Eneloop portable solar charger will hopefully usher in the pallbearering tech of the batteries demise. Seriously, batteries suck. Having to buy them sucks. Searching for outlets to plug in AC adapters sucks. Diminishing battery life sucks. Portable solar panels coupled with lithion ion reservoirs (so what if that’s technically a battery) that power USB gadgets doesn’t suck.
The Eneloop solar charger provides 5 volts for 2 hours but only after a three day solar charge or a 7 hour USB charge of the reservoir. After a full charge the panels will replenish the reservoir.
A single panel model is currently running for ~$100 in Japan but Sanyo plans to launch the Eneloop Stateside around August 10th with a double panel model for ~$150.
