Energy19.05.2024

Fastest-charging portable power stations in South Africa — all under R20,000

There is a wide range of portable power stations on sale in South Africa with ample storage capacity and the ability to charge to full quickly between load-shedding slots.

While peak output and battery sizes are two of the main features you should consider when shopping for a backup power system, charging speeds are also important.

Certain portable power stations, often cheaper or older models, can only draw around the same power as a large TV screen.

That might prevent you from using their full storage capacity during one load-shedding slot and having it back at full by your next slot.

For most households, two hours will be the shortest period between two load-shedding slots.

However, using its fastest charging method, a power station like the first version of the Magneto 1,200W with 999Wh capacity takes 5.5 hours to charge from empty to full. That works out to an average power input of around 182W.

The Eurolux 1,000W power station with 896Wh capacity’s fastest full charge time is 3.5 hours, when both its USB-C and AC power inputs.

The fastest-charging stations on the market can consume power at well over 500W, allowing 1,000Wh of capacity to be filled in less than two hours.

Perhaps the two most well-known brands that offer such speeds are Anker and Ecoflow. However, we found there are also many lesser-known brands.

On high-quality power stations, recharging speeds increase with capacity to ensure recharge times do not spiral out of control.

For example, the Ecoflow Delta 2 Max with 2,048Wh storage can charge at up to 2,300W. The regular Delta 2 with half that capacity can only charge at up to 1,200W.

However, because of their big storage capacity differences, they take roughly the same time to charge to full.

You should also consider that the batteries in power stations have charging curves, which means they won’t be able to charge at full speed from empty to full.

A battery management system will carefully tune charging speeds to prevent overheating or electric damage to the cells and other components.

We compiled a list of 10 portable power stations from different brands with average charging speeds of 500W or more.

For affordability considerations, we opted to use only power stations priced below R20,000, as these would suit the needs of most households without getting into the same level of expenditure for a fully-fledged fixed backup system.