Headphone and speaker manufacturer JBL is working on a prototype headphone design that can recharge with sunlight.
The headphones are only in the prototype stage at the moment and JBL is trying to kickstart them on Indigogo for $130 in Canada.
The company is calling these the JBL Reflect Eternal, and it uses Powerfoyle to get power from both the sun and artificial light indoors.
Powerfoyle is a nanotechnology company from Stockholm Sweden that claims it can turn both sunlight and artificial light into battery power. So far it’s untested and not in any products, but JBL says that it does have a working prototype.
While we’re a little skeptical of this tech, especially since JBL is crowdfunding it instead of actually selling it, it does seem incredibly cool.
The Indigogo page says that 1.5 hours outside per day will result in 68 hours of battery if you only use the headphones for a little under four hours per day. the battery cell inside the prototype headphones is 700mAh and can also be topped up via USB-C.
Overall, this is an incredibly cool concept and if the company can get it to work and bring it to market it will be astounding to see what other gadgets can take advantage of this tech to add extra battery life.
Source: JBL
