C-Cell Mobile Phone Charging in Ghana
Jun 24, 2009 Africa, Ghana, Innovation, Mobile, Power, Solar
Nana Owusu Acheampong's C-Cell Phone Charger
Kevin Rehak, an MBA Student at Columbia University that I am working with, recently sent me this photo of an innovative approach to cell phone charging in Ghana. Using a charging system he made himself, Mr. Acheampong, one of the Abusuapanin Community Leader’s in Bonsaaso village, use’s 4 C dry cell batteries to charge mobile phones. The four 1.5V batteries in series adds up to 6V which is similar to the 5.5V that most cell phones require (amperage varies). The set of batteries cost 1 Ghana Cedi and he is able to charge four phones before needing to replace the batteries. This compares to the 1 Cedi cost of charging a phone at the local cell tower.
Obviously, for a number of reasons this solution is not ideal. The phones charge very quickly (~10 minutes) but are probably receiving too high of a current which damages batteries. From an environmental standpoint, this method is particularly wasteful. All this is to highlight both the huge demand for cell phone charging in rural areas in Africa and a general lack of cheap and efficient technologies available for entrepreneurs like Mr. Acheampong.
Tough Stuff Solar Panel
Luckily, a lot of new products are beginning to enter the market that should help change this. The Tough Stuff Solar Panel a 1W (5.6V, 174mA) highly robust, amorphous panel that is ideal for charging individual cell phones is a particularly exciting example of this. More important then spec, the Tough Stuff Panel (with cell connectors) comes in at about €10 or less per panel retail. The retail price will obviously have to be a bit more but if you consider existing charging practices (see above) even a $20 price-point seems very viable.
Also see related post on 12V Cell Phone Charging Practices in Mali
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June 24th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Great post, Matt! We urgently need a deposit system for batteries, especially on those cheap Chinese Tiger batteries.
(aren’t those size D instead of size C?)
June 24th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I thought they were D Cell’s too but Kevin said they were C. I’ll try to confirm.
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USD 20 does not seem like a great deal, but in rural Africa most decisions are made with respect to cashflow – and not many people will have USD 20 to buy a solar panel with…when you can just pay a far smaller amount to get a one-off charge.
This is the mistake richer people always make when thinking about traction of new technologies in Africa.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:53 am
@Mark – completely agree that cash flow is king. I think though that if a product for $20 like this is on the market locally I think you would find a lot of takers especially since this could be used to save/supplement your income. Before, to get into the solar game you were talking investments much greater then $50.
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