Realizing that widespread EV adoption would be hampered by the inability to charge near or at home, ZipCharge co-founders Richie Sibal and Jonathan Carrier identified and developed a solution. Using their decades of experience in automotive electronics systems engineering and product development gained at cutting-edge businesses like McLaren, Lotus, and Jaguar Land Rover—their answer is the Go.

The ZipCharge Go acts like a power bank for EVs. Sized like a compact wheeled suitcase, it can be charged at home or elsewhere using a standard domestic plug and then stored in a car’s trunk. When needed, it can provide up to 32 kilometers of additional range in as little as 30 minutes—providing sufficient range for the average daily commute. It can be used in all normal weather conditions like a normal fixed (aka fast charging) point.

It also features a bi-directional AC-DC inverter which means it can become a local energy storage device allowing owners (or subscribers) to sell energy back to the grid at peak times. Furthermore, with 4G connectivity, it can be remotely managed, enabling the device to top itself up during off-peak hours, for example.

For now, the company has yet to reveal how much the ZipCharge Go will be. But they have set a target to be price comparable to a Level 2 home charge point, and significantly less than bi-directional charge points currently on the market. It will also be available as “hardware-as-a-service” where chargers will be available on a subscription for about 57 Euros or around P 3,337 per month.

Will having a portable EV charger wipe away your range anxiety?