The world's first portable battery pack to recharge an electric vehicle (EV) will be shipping to customers in early 2023.

The ZipCharge Go was designed like a rolling suitcase and meant to address the fact that hundreds of millions of people might want an EV, but live in a building with street parking and therefore no way to recharge their EV at night.

An inability to charge near or at home is one of the main reasons to reject EVs in the UK. According to research, 38% of participants said they were not likely to buy an EV in the next five years, with 36% worried about being unable to charge at home.

With state-of-the art bi-directional charging, the Go can be filled up in one's house in a single hour, while providing 20-40 miles of extra range in between 30-60 minutes when plugged into one's car.

20-40 doesn't sound like much, but neither did the mileage numbers for the early EVs, and the company will look to improve these numbers as soon as the product launches in 2023.

"Since our launch at COP26 in November last year, ZipCharge has received an unprecedented level of interest from potential customers around the world," said ZipCharge co-founder Jonathan Carrier. "They immediately see the benefit of the Go portable charger to deliver low cost, convenient charging anywhere they park."

Carrier and fellow co-founder Richie Sibal haa 40+ years of experiences working in the EV departments for automobile companies like Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus, and McLaren. ZipCharge Go will come with a mobile app that will allow people to track the charging speed and status of their battery.

This will allow users to plug in, go back inside, and see exactly how much time is left to full charge while they make a nice cuppa', or anything else. This, the owners believe, will be ideal for delivery or service fleet managers, who can monitor the the battery state of all their vehicles in the field, avoid unnecessary stops to recharge, as well as inconvenient parking to charge up back in the depot.

Pricing will be around the same as a high-speed home EV charging station, or available for lease at £49 ($63) per month. However, WS can confirm that the charging pack will not be available in a leather briefcase, removing the ability for Go owners to pretend they're spies.

"We are committed to launching a truly ground-breaking product in the Go, one that meets the needs of a range of customer groups, and how they would like to use the Go," Carrier says. "This includes private individuals, fleets and end-destinations, such as hotels, retail complexes, supermarkets and leisure activities – all locations where the ZipCharge Go can provide flexible, convenient and low-cost charging for everyone, anywhere they park."

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