Alta Devices, A solar startup company in Silicon Valley, has plans to make a fast-charging solar powered cover for your iPad by the end of next year. The company says the cover could end the need to plug your iPad into an outlet or a computer to charge.
While there are already a good number of solar covers for iPhones and even iPads, the problem is that most of these solar covers use conventional solar cells that are inefficient and take a long time to charge the device. Conventional solar cells also tend to be thick, bulky and heavy. But Alta Devices’ solar cells are up to 28 percent efficient (from less than 20 percent for conventional solar cells) and are created in a thin layer that can be embedded into materials, and buildings.
Alta Devices CEO Chris Norris says, “Using our material, the cover of an iPad can generate 10 watts of power in the full sun. That’s the same amount of power you get from the wall.”
This would be great if everything could come together to see this solar iPad cover come to market, but it’s all a little iffy right now. Alta Devices is currently looking to get some cash flow going by producing some niche applications in the short term. It’s trying to scale up production of its solar cell factories to make cells for buildings or utility fields. It’s not a good time to be in the solar industry. Solar makers are dropping like flies. They’ve either went bankrupt, or left the industry completely.
To deliver a fast-charging iPad solar charger to the market by the end of 2013, the company needs to work at considerably reducing the cost of its cells. Currently, its cells are far more expensive than traditional silicon-based solar cells. The company makes it cells from gallium-arsenide.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Alta Devices makes it through the darkness and starts to generate some money and can start to fully develop their solar charging iPad case. For those iPad users looking to reduce their carbon footprint, it’d be a great way to charge their favorite device.
