THE GEEKY PART

Graphene

Graphene is amazing stuff. So thin that it would take 2 million sheets piled on top each other to be the width of a penny coin. Yet each one of those sheets conducts electricity better than copper. It was discovered by two Nobel Prize winning scientists at the university of Manchester in the UK about 10 years ago. Since then it has been talked about as a wonder material for all sorts of applications from touch screens that bend, new improved medical scanners, to ultra strong lightweight body armour. We have used it to build an electrical double layer capacitor (EDLC) or supercapacitor. Supercapacitors are a hybrid between batteries and capacitors.

Batteries vs. Capacitors

• charge slowly (requiring a chemical reaction to take place)
• vulnerable to being over-charged
• discharge slowly

CAPACITORS

• charge quickly (some in only a fraction of a second) as no chemical reaction takes place.
• discharge quickly

If you replaced your mobile phone battery with a capacitor, the phone would charge up in say 30 seconds, but you would only have a few minutes of use before the capacitor lost its charge.

SUPERCAPACITORS

• charge quickly
• no risk of overcharging
• discharge slowly 
  

Supercapacitors have been used for years in industrial applications, but they are large and heavy because they incorporate two coils of aluminium foils inside separated by an insulating or dielectric layer. We have replaced these foils with graphene foils. Graphene is much thinner than aluminium allowing us to increase the thickness of the dielectric layer. This means we can increase the voltage output above the standard 2.7v, making our graphene supercapacitors much more efficient in consumer electronic applications.

Stephen     

THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Zapgocharger Ltd.

Founded in 2013, Zapgocharger was originally called London Graphene. After receiving a UK Government grant, the company began to conduct market research into advanced energy storage applications (including supercapacitors) and in early 2014, licensed patents from the Materials Science group at Oxford University in chemical vapor disposition (CVD) graphene. CVD produces very high quality graphene, orders of magnitude more conductive than copper, enabling Zapgocharger to develop supercapacitor applications.

Stephen Voller

This is not Stephen's first innovative new product. He invented the first CE marked portable hydrogen fuel cell system using an internal metal hydride canister which is now in the London Science Museum. The unique knowledge gained on this project helped him to develop the new power supply for the Zap&Go charger.

The design team

Stephen has been working closely with a team of designers at a leading London-based consultancy to develop the ZAP&GO charger and this campaign will fund further research and development into the technology, functionality and features of this innovative new product.

Next steps

With two fully working prototypes, the second a quarter of the size of the first, we now need funding to complete our development and testing of both the supercapcitor and power supply. To further reduce the size we will replace the aluminium supercapacitors with a single graphene supercapacitor and further development of our quasi-constant power supply will enable us to manufacture a power supply small enough to fit inside the proposed ZAP&GO design. Finally, testing will ensure compliance with all international standards before we can begin shipping in Autumn 2015.

Funding and risks

We are seeking a minimum of $30k to bring this important new technology to market. With this money we will make pre-production quantities.

We believe we have something unique, but the world is a big place and there is always the risk we don't. Also there is a risk we cannot get the product small and low-cost enough to be commercially viable. But what is life without risks? I believe in ZAP&GO and with my knowledge and experience in innovative electronics and your financial support I plan to take this unique new product to market.

The Zap&Go package

IF WE REACH $150,000...

Can we hit the $150,000 mark? 

With your help we believe we can. If we do manage to hit this incredible goal, each of you who have secured yourself a Zap&Go will be able to get a campaign special gold edition for only $10 more (per charger, independent of pledge price). 

Limited Edition Campaign Gold!

So share this campaign with your friends, family and colleagues and get the Zap&Go in your own personal color choice.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does it charge so fast?

If you have a mobile phone and a tablet you will notice that the tablets’ adaptor is larger than the one for your phone. This is because the phone uses 1A and the tablet 2.1A. If you have a laptop it will probably have a ‘brick’ charger, which is a transformer operating about 6A. To provide enough charge to charge a phone like the iPhone5 requires about 1.5Ah (1,500mAh - milli Amp hours). Using your 1A phone adaptor through a standard USB port is like using a garden hose to fill a large bucket of water, it takes time (for the iPhone 5 about 2.4 hours). The Zap&Go does this in 5 minutes; like filling the same bucket from a fire hose. Very fast. But to do this we need a 40A power supply. This is the innovation inside the Zap&Go.

Will this damage my phone battery?

Although the ZAP&GO charges in just 5 minutes, it recharges your phone/tablet at the same rate your device would charge if plugged directly into the plug with your normal charge cable. There is no risk of damaging your lithium battery through charging too fast or over charging when using the ZAP&GO.

Doesn't this product already exist?

There are chargers out there that claim they can do it in 15 minutes or less (we have even see one claiming 30 seconds). The graphene supercapacitor can in-fact be charged in seconds. But to charge it in 30 seconds would require a massive 400A power supply. This is why we are wary of those fast charge battery claims, most require a large power supply to use them. 

But won't batteries just get better?

Lithium batteries are getting better all the time, but the reason they charge slowly is that lithium is very sensitive to overcharging. Today it is 2-4 hours to recharge a smart phone, maybe this will be 1-2 hours soon, but it is unlikely to ever be a few minutes. 

If I support this project, when will I receive my ZAP&GO?

If all goes well, with the support from this campaign, we aim to have ZAP&GO in production by Autumn next year (2015), which means your ZAP&GO will be through your post-boxes within time for Christmas.

How do I chose my color?

If the campaign reaches $120,000 the four alternative Zap&Go colours will be unlocked and each supporter will be emailed after the campaign is complete asking them which color(s) they would prefer. If the campaign reaches $150,000 the Limited Edition Campaign Gold Zap&Go will also be available for only $10 more. Supporters will be able to select this option once emailed after the campaign and a payment method will be set up at that time. If the campaign does not reach $120,000 supporters will receive the classic black & white Zap&Go.