Tesla is restocking and lowering the price of its wireless charging battery bank

[Greg S]

Product update: Tesla is bringing back its wireless charger for smartphones with a slightly more reasonable price. Early adopters will enjoy the same discount via refunds made.

In an era where removable batteries are now a rarity, external battery banks have become a valuable accessory for when outlets are not available. Tesla has just begun telling customers that purchased its battery bank with wireless charging that it will be offering a discount.

By producing a higher volume of units, Tesla is able to lower the pricing on its battery bank. After debuting in August for $65 with very underwhelming specs, the 6,000 mAh battery will drop down to $49. Those who purchased at the original price will be receiving refunds to their original payment method in the coming weeks.

@verge tipline @nickstatt check out the cut in cost and refunds for Tesla's phone charger. Still not an Anker, but pretty sweet move pic.twitter.com/n9WG6xHPIs

— Jᴀʀᴇᴅ Hᴀssᴏɴ (@JaredEzz) September 10, 2018

Notably, Tesla's wireless charging station for phones also can only output 5W. Several flagships are capable of accepting 7.5W including the iPhone 8 and iPhone X when running iOS 11.2 or later.

Despite having a USB-C and USB-A port for charging, there are still many other battery banks available with far superior capacity and output if you can forego wireless charging. RAVPower has proven to offer a good value as an alternative to Anker with options exceeding 20,000 mAh and supporting Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.

Clearly Tesla is expecting hardcore fans to pay a premium for their product. The Tesla Powerbank is also still for sale at $45 for a 3,350 mAh battery with integrated lightning cable and detachable Micro USB. Even though there are far better options available, there will likely still be many orders made by collectors and enthusiasts.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/76373-tesla-restocking-lowering-price-wireless-charging-battery-bank.html

 

[OutlawCecil]

Umm... ebay has tons of 50,000mAh battery banks in the less-than-$20 range... I've bought two different ones in the past and they kick butt and last forever. Absolutely no reason to pay $45 for 3,350mAh nomatter the brand or quality. sorry.

 

[gusticles41]

Umm... ebay has tons of 50,000mAh battery banks in the less-than-$20 range... I've bought two different ones in the past and they kick butt and last forever. Absolutely no reason to pay $45 for 3,350mAh nomatter the brand or quality. sorry.

The Tesla bank is 6,000mAh. And any $20 50,000mAh will not actually be capable of 50,000mAh. Nor will it have wireless charging.

I won't argue there are cheaper options, but this one also says "Tesla" on it and is made from a bit higher quality parts than a china charger. $$60+ was unreasonable, $49 is just "premium".

 

[Uncle Al]

"underwhelming" ..... I'd say that pretty well defines Musk at this point. The boy needs to quit making excuses and start stepping up his game .....

 

[toooooot]

Can this battery power my portable flamethrower?

 

[OutlawCecil]

The Tesla bank is 6,000mAh. And any $20 50,000mAh will not actually be capable of 50,000mAh. Nor will it have wireless charging.

Sounds like they have a bigger one ($49 for 6,000mAh) and a smaller one ($45 for 3,350mAh) according to this article. My point still stands regardless of which we're talking about though.

And the ones on ebay claiming 50,000mAh I'm sure are not guarenteed in any way but like I said, I've bought two different ones and they last a heck of a lot longer than the average 4,000mAh battery banks I find all over town for $20+... We use them for camping for tent lighting using a USB LED bulb and to charge tablets to keep the kids from going crazy without their tech while camping or on road trips and stuff like that. We charge them every so often and the things rarely die when they are needed. Maybe not 50,000mAh but still more than enough.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Granted, the battery is not the greatest product ever or anything like that, but I feel like people are totally missing a major part of this story...

Since when have you EVER seen a company retro-actively refund consumers who bought previous products due to savings in manufacturing now being experienced? It'd be a little like Intel saying "hey, we can make that new i7 cheaper now, and we obviously made you pay a premium when it first came out, so here's $200 cash back."

Normal companies take the money and run when introducing a new product, then eventually drop the price as their manufacturing process and supply lines improve.