Author: Betty Watson
Published: Date
How do you pick the right portable power station for your adventure? There are dozens of different brands, models and sizes, with more coming on the market every day.
After spending the last 15 years working on energy storage (e.g., battery) products for Tesla and the government, among others, I can tell you the most important characteristics to consider to make your decision a snap and leave you feeling confident that you got the best value possible.
While there are numerous details, features and variables you can consider, there are two Golden Rules to picking a portable power station. At their core, portable power stations are large batteries, with various ways to use and charge them added on. So, it's no surprise that the two most important factors in picking a portable power station are related to the battery.
Those two core factors to consider in choosing a portable power station are:
Ensuring the battery is big enough, and
Finding the lowest cost per watt-hour.
Easy peasy. You can go to The Powery's Portable Power Station Comparison to those tech specs for all the big-name portable power stations to find your best value now.
But feel free to read on if you'd like a bit more explanation.
Ensuring the battery is big enough.
Getting a portable power station won't power what you want is the worst-case scenario. You'll be left unsatisfied, and literally in the dark. So the first thing you want to do if figure out what size portable power station you need.
There are two elements that determine what size power station you will want:
How many things you want to power at once. This is called your power requirement, and it's measured in Watts (W). And
How long you want to power those things. This is called your energy requirement, measured in Watt-hours (Wh).
To get more familiar with figuring out what size battery you need, check out our discussion on "What Size Power Station Do I Need?". And if you haven't memorized how much power and energy your blender requires, our "How Much Does It Use" page, where we list the power and energy requirement for the most common appliances as well as anything else you ask us for.
For anyone who wants to go a bit deeper on this issue- have no fear! We will go more into depth on the difference between power and energy, how they relate to the inverter and battery size of your Portable Power Station, and what that means for you in upcoming articles.
Finding the lowest cost per watt-hour.
Once you find the battery size range that will give you the power you want, the next step is the find the best value! In the world of batteries, what drives costs is the total energy, in watt-hours, that a battery has. So the best value is determined by the lowest cost per Watt-hour ($/Wh). So, once you determine your battery size needs, your next step is to find the portable power station with the lowest cost per watt-hour within that range.
You can find the cost per watt-hour of most portable power stations in The Powery's Portable Power Station Comparison.
I'll also show you how to calculate the cost per watt-hour ($/Wh) of any other portable power station, or with any sales prices you find:
Cost per Watt-Hour ($/Wh) = Power Station Cost ($) / POwer Station Watt-Hours (Wh)
That's it. Now you have the means to find the best portable power station for you for most use cases!
Factors to Note
There are a couple factors that I want to make you aware of, so that you can decide if and how they affect your decision
First- the weight of the portable power station. More energy equals more weight in the world of batteries, so consider how often you will want to move the portable power station and how much you can carry!
Second- is how many times you can use the portable power station. What I'm really referring to here is how many times the battery can be cycled from full to empty to full again, called a "cycle." Most batteries on the market today can tolerate a couple thousand cycles in their lifetime, but there are a few that have a much lower tolerance- around 500 cycles. Now, 500 uses is probably still more than many of us need from these devices over 5 years! But it's good to be aware of in case you are planning to use your portable power station every day!
You can also find the weight and expected cycle life of portable power stations on The Powery's Portable Power Station Comparison!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are numerous additional factors to consider when selecting a portable power station. We’ll be adding to this series regularly to cover those factors.
Tell us what’s important to you in the comments below!
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